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THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 1
The Impact Of Interviewing 7th Grade Students
Christy Lee Nielson
Master of Professional Communications
Weber State University
March 4, 2013
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 2
Introduction
“If only I had more one-on-one time to work with Johnny, I really feel like I could help him more effectively academically.” This type of discussion can often be heard traveling throughout the teacher faculty room. As classroom sizes get bigger through out the state of Utah, often teachers find themselves wondering, “Is it possible to have one-on-one time with each student?” After reading much research and learning about effective teaching strategies, I have found that many researchers and authors encourage one-on-one communication with students because they believe it will help them to be more successful in educating students. In the past five years, after teaching approximately 1,000 students, I too can’t help but wonder is one-on-one communication the keys to seeing students improve? If a teacher actually had time to sit down and talk with each student, and listen to questions and concerns students may have about class, would that actually prove to be the missing link that can get students on the right track to academic success? That is my question, and that is my venture. As an educator I hope to find the answer. Will personal interviews with students help students to decrease the amount of missing work in my class? Will these personal interviews bring test scores up? And will the students even enjoy having these personal interviews with the teacher?
In my mind, I believe that by conducting my interviewing research, I can find out where each one of my students fall as far as their skills and abilities, and I can help them by planning curriculum units in ways that can best fit their individual needs. Differentiated instruction has always been mentioned as a key aspect in pedagogy, but how are we to know which levels students are actually on if we don’t have the personal THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 3
interaction to interview each one of them and see where each student is as far as ability and comprehension? I believe that after much investigation, that teachers need to work hard at comprehending where students’ skill levels are so that lesson plans and teaching strategies can be created in a way to help each student gain the information they need to be successful in the classroom.
This research project evolved due to my introduction to the program called RTI, or Response To Intervention. Bender and Shores have popularized RTI. RTI is a program where teachers gather and discuss helpful interventions for students that are struggling academically (Bender & Shores, 2007). Each school can come up with different interventions that they feel will work effectively. As Kerins, Trotter, and Schoenbrodt mention, RTI provides a great opportunity for children who are at risk academically (2010).
At Fort Herriman Middle School, in Jordan School District, one of the interventions provided through the RTI intervention program is for a teacher to spend one-on-one time with students and help them with their academic struggles. I have seen for myself how this program is beneficial within our school, and I believe any time a teacher is able to mentor an individual, even through something like interviewing, it can be advantageous to each student academically. My hope is that I will see a difference after conducting these interviews so that I can help other educators realize the importance of one-on-one interviews with students.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 4
Literature Review
This literature review is divided into five sections on interview, listening, teacher-student communication, personal connection, and R.T.I.
Interview
M. Kathleen Heid, Glendon W. Blume, Rose Mary Zbiek and Barbara S. Edwards researched a study on math teachers interviewing students in order to understand students’ abilities and problems they are experiencing in math (1999). These authors mention that math teachers need to do more than find the solution to the issues students are having while learning math, but more so, they need to listen carefully to their struggles so that they can come up with a proper solution as to how to help these students. Furthermore, as these math teachers continued to interview individual students, they stopped teaching and answering all the questions, and they began to probe more so that many of the students opened up and explained their level of understanding in their math classes. These math teachers were amazed at what they were able to learn as far as their understanding of student skills and they found this study to be very beneficial.
Elisbaeth Vialpando De Groot at the University of Michigan conducted another study similar to the prior study (2002). Basically, De Groot was interested in exploring students’ and teachers’ perceptions of learning and schooling through interviewing. De Groot interviewed a student who mentioned that having a one-on-one interview with the teacher was an ideal way to understand concepts and ask questions. This student felt that the individual interviews created a chance for the teacher to dedicate more time to the student, than the entire class. De Groot was interested to see the impact of teachers conducting interviews with students. Some interviews were unstructured, others were structured, and some were more in depth. De Groot found that teachers are better able to understand how self-regulated each student is when conducting individual THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 5
interviews. Therefore, benefitting the classroom teacher because teachers can more clearly understand where each student is as far as academic motivation by using the proper interviewing questions. DeGroot’s emphasizes that one-on-one communication between teachers and students can prove to be a helpful strategy to use in a classroom atmosphere.
In their book on interviewing W.B. Cash and C.J. Stewart (2011), discuss not only different types of interview situations, but also how to structure an interview particularly for the audience that is being interviewed. Cash and Stewart also provide tips on how to make the interview process a trusting and comfortable atmosphere. Author Jerry E. Mandel (1971) also wrote about important interviewing tactics in “A strategy for selecting and phrasing question in an interview.” Mandel discussed how to figure out the main goals for the interview and then how to work towards obtaining those goals in the most efficient manner. The author also mentioned the importance of selecting the best possible questions to reach the goals set for the particular interview given.
Listening
In addition to interview, one has t be able to listen. Julian Weissglass writes “Listen first, then teach” (2012) and describes the importance of not assuming you understand how a student is thinking and how important it is to be the listener. Weisslgass states that it is not uncommon for teachers to assume that they know a student’s learning problems or struggles in the classroom, but she aks, how are they to know this if they don’t communicate properly with the student? Does this put more work on the teachers’ part? Of course. Is it important for the teacher to listen to each student’s concerns? Weissglass would reply with a resounding yes because she believes the more a THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 6
student communicates and actually opens up about what they aren’t understanding, the more successful they will be academically. Weisglass adds that there are many teachers who too quickly label students as having a disability before they actually have an individual discussion with that particular student to try to understand how they can help them with the context. Weissglass feels that students need to open up more about their learning concerns so that they can understand how to get on the right path to a successful education. First, the teachers must listen to what the student has to say, and be the type of teacher who is proactive about helping these students to feel as comfortable as possible when talking with them.
Along with helping students feel comfortable when they have a teacher-student discussion, Cris Tovani emphasized the importance of listening to students’ feedback (2012). Tovani explains that many educators fall into the trap of being the sole provider of feedback, and forget that the student is actually the essential person who should be providing feedback on how they are doing in class. Tovani gives the example from her career as a teacher: She had a particular student rarely coming to class so she thought it was only necessary to fail him. As soon as the student noticed he was failing Tovani’s class, this student came in to have a private discussion with Tovani in which the student explained that he needed help fixing his schedule because he had two classes at the same time, hence his inability to go to Tovani’s class. A simple fix, and yet the solution was what many educators forget the priceless impact of student feedback. Tovani promotes the idea to all educators to make sure that they are doing their part to listen to each individual students feedback pertaining to their class work. Tovani believes it’s amazing what a teachers listening skills can do to help with students success. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 7
Teacher-student communication
The topic of virtual schools creeps up when discussing the impact of teacher to student communication because recent studies mention that virtual school teachers feel a great deal of disconnect with their students (Barbour, Graham& Hawkins, 2012). Virtual schools tend to be on the rise in today’s society because students like the idea of getting online and completing assignments via the Internet. Since the beginning of virtual schools started in 1994, all but two states in the nation provide students with the option of participating in school and classes online. Barbour, Graham and Hawkins found that teachers feel a strong disconnect with their students because they never have a face-to-face conversation. Virtual school teachers can see the importance of having that personal connection with students, and many teachers feel that virtual schools are missing out on really understanding students because of the lack of interaction they have with students. Once again, even virtual school teachers can see that individual, face-to-face connections are vital and important to students’ success.
Authors Brandi Frisby and Matthew Martin wrote another article that emphasizes the importance of teacher-student communication (Frisby & Martin 2010). They emphasized how crucial instructor-student rapport was in the classroom in their study with a group of college students. They found that students who have good communication with their instructors are more likely to participate in class, which helps them to reach their academic goals by asking more questions about class topics. Frisby and Martin emphasize how important it is to teach up and coming educators tactics to create positive and effective communication skills with students so that there is a positive rapport, which can lead to students experiencing more academic success in the classroom. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 8
The idea of teachers trying to communicate more effectively with students is not a new idea, according to Ahmet Atay (2009). Atay discusses the impact the social media network of Facebook has had with his teacher-to-student relationships. As a college professor, he has many students who have requested him as a friend. After weighing the pros and cons, he realized that having a more personal online interaction with students could be a good thing if handled appropriately. Atay was able to create online friendships with students in a personalized way, and it helped him to communicate more with his students he taught. Atay found that online media could be an effective way to communicate on a personal, one-on-one level with students to build valuable teacher-student relationships.
Stacy Young, Dawn Kelsey, and Alexander Lancester studied the impact of teacher-to-student e-mail and how it helps students to foster their relationships with their teachers (2011). These researchers were able to find that when teachers e-mail frequently, and they e-mail personally to each individual student, students tend to feel more a part of the class because they believe that their teacher has a personal interest in them. Stacy Young conducted her own study on how interpersonal relationships can be better fostered through teacher-to-student e-mail (2011). Young would encourage all teachers to utilize e-mail as a tool to strengthen relationships between students and teachers.
Richard Slatta and Jennifer Blossfeld would also agree that creating an online friendship and relationship with students is crucial. In Slatta and Blossfeld’s article “Diversifying and improving student-instructor communication,” they describe the importance of having one-on-one time to spend with each student to help them succeed academically (2012). Slatta and Blossfeld extensive research shows a direct correlation of THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 9
closeness between teacher and students and enhanced learning motivation. They show that the connection between students and teachers isn’t just a “nice perk,” it actually has an academic impact on students. Furthermore, it can be crucial to having a successful classroom atmosphere. Slatta and Blossfeld would argue that if teachers are just simply teaching material, without trying to connect with students, there is a lack in academic success on the part of those students. They believe that a major part of teaching is to connect and encourage students.
Scott A. Meyers (2002) also studies and researched the impact of communication on teacher and students’ relationships. His study involved college students instead of adolescents, his goal was to find out if aggressive instructor communication with students is liked or disliked overall by students. After watching ninety-six undergraduate students, Meyers came to the conclusion that perceived instructor argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness has a direct correlation on perceived student state of motivation, cognitive learning, and affective learning. Instructors that are more argumentive and verbally aggressive tend to have a negative impact on student learning. Meyers learned which personality traits students prefer their instructor to have to help them to be more successful academically. He found that teachers that are less argumentive and verbally aggressive, and whom are more empathetic and polite to students tend to be more successful instructors according to the students. Meyers argued that the way educators communicate with students is important especially when it comes to students learning outcomes.
Instructional communication literature brings up many points about the importance of practicing affective communication in a teaching atmosphere. Nicole D. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 10
Dobransky and Ann B. Frymier studied how class communication is crucial for students to be even more successful in classes (2004). They found that when a teacher and a student talked to each other in a setting where one is not sociologically “above” another outside the classroom, the student reported greater learning. This interpersonal relationship that is developed when teachers and students communicate outside the classroom brings trust and greater learning abilities that would otherwise be compromised. Some educators may complain that this one-on-one relationship outside the classroom is too hard to achieve, yet Dobransky and Frymier would argue that it is worth the time and effort to see these students succeed in the classroom.
Also studying the impact teacher communication has on students, Alan K. Goodboy and San Bolkan (2009) learned how teacher misbehavior has a great effect on students. They considered teacher misbehaviors anywhere from being incompetent in the subject matter to offensiveness. Overall, Goodboy and Bolkan noticed that no matter what the misbehavior was, it had a direct negative effect on students’ learning outcomes. They found that teacher misbehavior seemed to create a certain amount of student resistance and discouraged classroom participation, as well as created an unsupportive classroom environment. Lastly, Goodboy and Bolkan noticed teacher misbehavior influenced students’ motivation in the classroom and students’ cognitive learning abilities. Goodboy and Bolkan feel their research portrays how important positive and healthy communication is within a classroom atmosphere.
In “Using teacher self-disclosure as an instructional tool,” Jacob Cayanus discussed that, when used appropriately, teacher self-disclosure can be a compelling tool in the classroom (2004). After conducting much research, Cayanus found that there are THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 11
many positive outcomes when teachers talk with students about who they are personally. Students tended to make a connection with teachers when the instructors opened up about themselves. Cayanus believe that there is also a sense of trust between the teacher and student, which helps to create a safer, and more intimate classroom atmosphere. He goes through the five effective ways to use the idea of self-disclosure in lesson plans. Cayanus considers this to be a very effective teaching tool because it has proved to increase student participation, interest, motivation, and understanding.
Annie T. Fisher wrote an article entitled “Creating an articulate classroom: examining pre-service teachers’ experiences of talk.” In this particular article, Fisher expresses the importance of teacher-to-student dialogue (2011). Meaning that teachers should not be the one constantly giving information and asking questions, but more so, it is important for students to feel comfortable enough to speak up and ask the teachers questions as well. Fisher noted that teaching is an emotional business, and when teachers are willing to listen to students, even if it’s on an emotional level, students are more likely to participate and get involved in their learning. It may not always be a comfortable role for teachers to move towards listening to students, but research has found that it is an important aspect to help teacher achieve success within the classroom atmosphere.
Communication in teaching also came up when Colleen Malachowski and Matthew Martin researched the relationships between instructors’ views of their own nonverbal immediacy, caring behaviors, and confirmation, as well their perceptions of their students’ nonverbal responsiveness (2011). Studies have found that students, who perceive their instructor as more nonverbally immediate, report greater affective learning, motivation, and willingness to obey instructors’ requests. Examples of nonverbal THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 12
immediacy would be moving around the classroom, smiling, decreasing physical barriers, and vocal pitch. Malachowski and Martin’s research found that students are more likely to be motivated by an instructor that exhibits these types of nonverbal behaviors.
Along with nonverbal behaviors, Houser and Frymier found that teacher’s nonverbal and verbal behavior, along with student characteristics, affect students learning empowerment (2009). To be an empowered learner means to be stimulated and motivated to carry out tasks, and to find these tasks to be meaningful. Research found that when teachers made the curriculum more applicable, students felt more empowered to learn and succeed in school. The teacher’s use of nonverbal and verbal immediacy and relevance were all positively connected to all dimensions of empowerment. After conducting further research, Houser and Frymier were able to find that students become empowered learners mainly as an outcome of their teachers’ communication traits and behaviors in class. Therefore, students’ class motivation to excel and learn is correlated with the communication behaviors of their instructor. Houser and Frymier would continue to argue that communicating with students is crucial and that it is important to find appropriate ways to communicate with each student as often as possible.
Diane M. Christophel writes “The relationships among teacher immediacy behaviors, student motivation, and learning (1990). In this journal article, Christophel investigates the research done on student motivation and how it is viewed as an important element that contributes greatly to student learning. Christophel found through much research that teacher immediacy has a direct impact on students learning outcomes in a positive way and highlights many of the main points that authors Houser and Frymier discuss. Teacher immediacy is the idea of teachers using non-verbal cues to let students THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 13
know that they are in a safe environment. Smiling, moving close to students when they talk, and keeping eye contact would all be example of immediacy in the classroom.
Mary L. Rucker and Joanna M. Davis-Showell examined teacher immediacy and interpersonal communication in the classroom (2000). Rucker and Davis-Showell argued that teacher interpersonal communication skills and teacher immediacy could have a positive affect on student retention. Faber and Mazlish wrote “How to talk so Kids Can Learn,” (2003). They also feel that there are certain key components to talking to students so that they trust adults and teachers enough to express their feelings towards them. This book emphasized that if teachers take time out to communicate with each student individually and really get to know each individual student, the likeliness of having students more satisfied in their classroom is more probable.
Scott Titsworth, Margaret Quinlan, and Joseph Mazer discuss the importance of emotional communication in the classroom (2010). They feel that communication and emotion are important to intertwine to create a positive learning environment. Their research in this area has shown that when teachers use emotion in their interpersonal communication with students, students are more apt to pay attention and understand the information.
David S. Fusani, studied educational communication in which he specifically studies student-teacher interaction outside of class and the positive impact it made on students, as well as teachers (1994). Fusani found that it is important for instructors to understand that the roles of communication extend further than the classroom. He argued that teachers should do their best to think of ways to broaden their communication skills in ways that can be more helpful to students. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 14
In speaking of broadening communication skills in the classroom, Qin Zhang investigates classroom communication apprehension inside Chinese classrooms (2005). Some of Zhang’s research findings included the fact that when teachers communicated with humor in the United States, students felt more comfortable in the classroom, and were more eager to listen and participate. Whereas in China, where the culture is different especially regarding humor, Chinese students didn’t feel as comfortable in the classroom when the instructor used humor. Zhang described many limitations he had in his study; however, he feels that it is important to continue to study how communication skills impact students so that instructors and teachers can continue to improve in this area.
Sarah Wilde, Kimberly Cuny and Alexandra Vizzier also studied the impact of empathetic listening not just in school but also in other work related areas (2006). They write that empathetic listening is a key component of any type of relationship whether it be teacher-student, or in other working environments. They believe all people can do better to become empathetic listeners to obtain even better relationships with all people.
Laura W. Black, researched teacher-student communication and students perceptions of their learning (2005). This study disclosed that dialogic elements of voice and presence were found to be important for learning according to students’ reactions. The study found that many students tend to have fear when it comes to opening up to teachers, even when teachers try to be open with them. Laura Black felt that students automatically believe that the teacher has more power, and therefore they are more apprehensive about being open with how they are doing in class. She feels that teachers need to break that openness barrier so that students feel comfortable with being open, which can help students be and feel more successful within the classroom. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 15
Churchill Roberts and Samuel Becker also conducted a study concerning communication skills and the correlation of student ratings of their teachers (1978). These two researchers were able to find that the teachers that received excellent evaluation scores from their students had very good teaching delivery skills and had direct contact with each student. Roberts and Becker highlight that students thrive when teachers work on their communication skills, and their ability to have that direct contact with each student.
In addition to discussing communication in the classroom, Girish Govindarajan wrote “Enhancing oral communication between teachers and students,” (2001). He argues that even though there are many ways that teaching has changed over time, one thing that will and should stay the same for teachers is the fact that teachers should be good listeners, and good at creating discussions. Govindarajan describes that for students to feel they can talk to the teacher and sense that the teacher is listening the teacher needs to make sure and create a sense of trust between the teacher and student. Some tips were explained to establish this type of trust to enable the teacher to get to know each student individually and learn their interests and hobbies. The teacher also needs to make clear that they are listening and understanding the student. Govindarajan even explained that it could be beneficial for teachers to videotape themselves and watch how they communicate with their students so they can see how they could improve. He revealed that many teachers unintentionally display a sense of superiority over their students, which in return makes it difficult for students to express themselves and communicate with them successfully. Govindarajan feels that it is important for teachers to communicate regularly with students to make them comfortable enough to open up with THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 16
their teachers. He also notes that after the teacher speaks with individual students, it’s important to summarize back what the student has said to prove to the student that the teacher is taking a personal interest in what they have to say.
Richard West has taken a particular interest in researching the importance of communication skills in the classroom (1994). West notes that through much of his research he has found that there has always been a link between student achievement and communication. West surveyed close to 200 students and made note of the positive and negative interpersonal experiences these students had with their teachers. He found that students that responded to having positive interpersonal communication with teachers considered these positive responses were very helpful to students when it came to their academic achievement. Students also explained that when the teacher gave students recognition for their comments they felt more successful in class. Overall, West found that the way that students interpreted what their teacher is saying can make a difference as far as how they do and feel about their academic success.
Reed and Spicer, were also interested in the study of communication in the educational realm (2003). Reed and Spicer focused on adolescent’s interactions with their teachers. Reed and Spicer found that often students’ academic performances were regularly demonstrated through their written and spoken communication behaviors. Reed and Spicer were able to find that these communication behaviors tend to be a factor in how much these students interacted with their teachers. As they continued on with their research, they found that the top three most important communicative behaviors that students scored as most important for their teachers to have were: narrative communication, logical communication, and clarification. Reed and Spicer felt that many THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 17
teachers could strive to focus more on these proper communicative behaviors to become more successful classroom teachers.
Reed, McLeod, and McAllister were also interested in communication skills in the education world, particularly among adolescents (1999). Reed, McLeod, and McAllister emphasized that when students learn how to communicate with adult teachers effectively, they are more likely to grow up and become an effective communicator as an adult. They were able to research what were the most important skills students found when interacting with their peers, as well as their adult teachers. The three skills ranked highest in this study were nonverbal comprehension, perspective talking, and interpretation of vocal tone. Reed, McLeod, and McAllister emphasized to all teachers to work on nonverbal comprehension, perspective talking, and interpretation of vocal tone to help students learn better and understand concepts more clearly.
Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon wrote a book “Learning to Teach Through Discussion (2009). Haroutunian-Gordon reflected on the importance of proper communication skills amongst educators. She felt that teachers needed to understand that having discussions with classes is something that teachers should work at and improve on so that students can learn more effectively. Allington and Cunningham also go into detail about having effective classrooms in their book “Classrooms That Work,”(2003). They explain the importance of having effective class discussions and the communication skills that should be used to get more students to participate and feel confident about getting involved in discussions.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 18
Personal Connection:
The book “Turning points 2000,” also explains the importance of having a personal connection with students in order for them to find academic success. Jackson and Davis wrote about different strategies teachers can use to improve instruction in the classroom (2000). Jackson and Davis are focused on improving pedagogy for the 21st century. They discussed that it is important for teachers to encourage students to reflect on what they are learning in class and to help them understand concepts that may be confusing. Jackson and Davis also explained that teachers needed to understand where each student’s skill levels are so that teachers can plan their class units according to different skill levels.
Similar to knowing the skill levels of the students, Randy and Tana Page discuss the importance of knowing each individual student’s needs in their book “Promoting health and emotional well-being in you classroom” (2007). In the first chapter of this book, Page and Page specifically noted that effective teachers need to not only know students interests and hobbies, teachers need to know and understand each individual students’ academic goals and abilities. By understanding each student’s skill levels and academic goals, Page and Page believe that teachers will have a more effective classroom atmosphere, and that discipline problems will decrease. Harry Wong is a well-known educator throughout the United States and in one of his books “The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher,” he also discussed the importance of letting students know teachers care about them (2005). Wong argued that not only will students’ behavior possibly improve, but also students may take more of an interest in the class. In the book “Teach like a champion,” Lemov discussed how important it is for teachers to have THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 19
frequent discussions with students and to get to know students on a personal level (2010).He felt that building trust among teachers and students was key, and that proper communication skills was the proper solution to make that happen.
RTI:
Bender and Shores have popularized RTI, which stands for response to intervention. RTI is a program where teachers get together and discuss helpful interventions for students that are struggling academically (2007). Kerins, Trotter, and Schoenbrodt believe that RTI has provided students with the opportunity to do better academically in school. (2010). These authors discussed the importance of teachers making the connections with these students so as to help these struggling students succeed. Some of the interventions consist of one-on-one teacher-students discussions, in which the teacher encourages the struggling student to set academic goals that will help them succeed. Another intervention explained was having a group of teachers set a meeting with the struggling student to help the student make the proper improvements to succeed in class. Kerins, Trotter, and Schoenbrodt felt that if teachers show personal interest with a struggling student, the student would most likely respond in a positive manner simply by knowing that their teachers want to help them individually to succeed.
Methods
My study is based on these overarching Hypotheses:
H1: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have less missing assignments because they are actively communicating with the teacher about their progress, which therefore can benefit students’ awareness of assignment completion in Miss Nielson’s history class. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 20
H2: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have better post-test scores because they were actively discussing with the teachers concepts they did not understand so that they could show mastery on a test.
H3: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will express that they felt student-teacher interviews to be beneficial to them and their academic success in history class.
From these hypotheses, I have developed the following three research questions:
RQ1: Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews help to reduce students’ missing assignments?
RQ 2:Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews impact test scores when looking at pre and post test scores?
RQ3: Do students enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher?
Description of Process
Students will have a list of six questions that I will ask each student in three of my six classes. For the last interview, I will ask seven questions. These classes were picked randomly for no specific reason without any biases involved in choosing these classes. I chose my odd number classes: 3rd period, 5th period, and 7th period, to conduct my interviews. I will interview students three times and tape-record their responses, transcribing them afterwards. Interviews should not be longer than five minutes, and I will conduct interviews only when students are working on individual assignments so that it will not cut into my teaching/lecturing time. Interviews will occur in my office area across the hall from her classroom. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 21
Students not being interviewed will continue to work on assignments in class while being monitored by a student teacher.
To keep confidentiality, students will be assigned a number with gathering data, so that their names will never be shown. There will be no pressure put on the students to say anything in particular to the teacher. I will be efficient in typing the answers the student has word for word so that it does not skew the research. I will conduct these interviews throughout the month of January 2013 into the month of February if needed.
I will have all of my seventh graders take a pre and post history test that will not in any way affect their grade. The pre-test will be taken before the interviews begin, and the post-test will be taken after the interviews are complete.
Students will be tape recorded to make sure that information is documented most accurately.
All students involved in the research signed a permission slip, and their parents did as well. I received IRB approval from both Jordan school district, and Weber State University.
Teacher-student interview questions for week 1 & 2:
1. What have you learned this past week in my class?
2. What have you enjoyed most about class this past week?
3. How quality would you rate your homework assignments, do you feel like you are turning in your most quality work?
4. How do you think you are doing in my class overall?
5. How do you think you can improve in my class? THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 22
6. What can I do to help you? (probe-as your teacher I want to do everything I can to help you be successful in class).
Teacher-student interview questions for week 3:
(Added question #6, #8 for the last interview)
1. What have you learned this past week in my class?
2. What have you enjoyed most about class this past week?
3. How do you think you are doing in my class overall?
4. How quality would you rate your homework assignments, do you feel like you are turning in your most quality work?
5. How do you think you can improve in my class?
6. Do you enjoy having interviews once a week? Why?
7. What can I do to help you? (probe-as your teacher I want to do everything I can to help you be successful in class).
8. I wanted to remind you that Utah became a state in 1896, this is an important date please try your hardest to remember this.
Findings
Q1: “What have you learned this past week in my class?”
Many of the students were able to properly remember the exact topic that was being discussed in their Utah Studies class. In particular, as the interviews progressed, students became more efficient at reflecting on what they had learned in class that week. For example, during the first interview session, 42 of 60 students interviewed mentioned they learned about the railroad and Utah’s struggle for statehood. These two topics were the main lessons discussed that week,;thus, many remembered very well what they were learning at that time. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 23
During the second week of interviews, 52 of 59 students called to memory the topics of statehood and women’s suffrage. During the third week of interviews, 53 of 60 students were able to correctly answer that they were learning about immigration that week. Thus, students were increasingly aware of what they were learning in history class. One student commented on what she had learned by stating, “I learned why some people wanted women to vote and why some didn’t want them to vote.”
Q2: “What have you most enjoyed about class this past week?”
This question had a variety of answers. One commonality seen in this answer throughout the three-week interview process was that many students enjoyed class activities and hands-on projects. Over a period of three interviews, 179 different answers were given. Answers tended to vary between students who have higher grades in class versus those with lower grades. For example, one student stated what she has most enjoyed about class recently: “I have really liked learning about what has happened and how these things have come to be, how women can vote and how different it would be for us. “ On the other hand, another student stated “That Mr. Fagan (student teacher) got to teach us because I like having new teachers teach.”
Q3: “How do you feel you are doing overall in my class?”
During the first of the three interviews, 47 of 60 students felt that they were either doing “pretty good,” “good,” or “okay” in class. During the second set of interviews, 53 of 59 students stated that they were doing “pretty good,” “good,” or “okay” in class. One thing to consider during this second week was the THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 24
beginning of third quarter so students had not yet received many graded assignments. For the third week of interviews, 44 out of 60 students interviewed remarked that they were doing “pretty good,” “good,” or “okay” in class. The six students who did not answer positively to this question made statements like “Considering my absences, I think I would be doing good,” and “I forgot to turn in the News Days assignment.”
One student in particular was able to articulate what she was feeling when she said, “I think I am doing pretty well, I have had a bit of trouble remembering news days.”
Q4: “How quality would you rate your homework assignments? Do you feel you are turning in your most quality work?”
Out of 60 students who answered these questions during the first interview session, 38 students felt confident they were doing well on high quality assignments, and that they were always turning in their highest quality work. During the second interview, 38 of 59 students mentioned that they felt confident they were doing well on the quality of their assignments, and that they were always turning in their most quality work. During the third and final week, 42 of 60 students felt confident they were handing in quality assignments, and that they were always turning in their most quality work. Altogether, there were 61 students who indicated that they did not feel they were doing their most quality work in class. One student stated the following about the quality of his work: “I used to do really poorly and wrote really small, and I have been trying to get nice sentences in.” Another student said, “I could do better on them,” THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 25
Q5: “How do you think you can improve in my class overall?”
There were a variety of answers given for this particular question. Out of the 60 students interviewed in the first session, 16 felt that they could improve by studying more, 15 felt that they could do better on homework, and eight felt that they could work on not talking in class as much. Other answers that were fewer in number was to study more, get organized, slow down their writing, work harder, and write more.
For the second session of interviews, eight students out of 59 felt that they could improve by talking less in class, while six students felt that they could work on homework more. There were four students who felt that they could study more, and five students believed they needed to listen better. Five students mentioned that they didn’t know what they could do to improve in class, and two students felt they could work on turning in more quality work. Another comment made during this interview that did not fit into any certain category was noted by one male student: “By asking you if I have any missing assignments and looking at skyward.” Another student said: “Maybe I could start raising my hand and asking questions.”
During the third round of interviews, 60 students answered this question, and once again, there were a wide variety of answers. There were nine students that thought they could work on listening better in class, and six felt they needed to work on their homework more efficiently. Three students felt they needed to work on the quality of their work, and three also felt they could talk less. Two students felt they should put more time into class, and two others felt they could try harder altogether. One student answered this question by simply stating, “I don’t know,” while another THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 26
student said, “I think I could try and do more detail on things like dolls and add a little more.”
Q6: What can I do to help you? (Probe-as your teacher I want to do everything I can to help you be successful in class.)
During the first session of interviews, there were some commonalities among the 60 answers for this particular question. For example, eleven students felt that the teacher was doing well with everything in class. Whereas, seventeen students didn’t know what the teacher could do to help them. Five students thought that more reviewing in class would be beneficial, and nine students said that nothing needed to be done to help them in class. Some of the more anomalous answers given were, “The only thing that would really help would be to move a student because he takes our stuff,” and “To check my Utah Studies grade if I am absent and miss something, tell me to finish it on time.” Another student mentioned that he doesn’t’ want to leave the classroom for testing, while another student stated, “Maybe try to shorten what you are trying to say.”
For the second session of interviews, 59 students responded. Eleven of these students didn’t know what the teacher could do to help them, while nine mentioned that the teacher should do more activities, and ten students said the teacher didn’t need to do anything to help them. There were eight students who thought the teacher was doing everything very well, and one student that wanted to see more group activities in class. There were also some comments made by students that were not necessarily categorized. For example, one student mentioned that she likes the reminder texts that teachers send out, but that she wishes her class was quieter THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 27
so she could learn better. Another student referred to the homework assignment in class and wanted the teacher to provide more ideas as to where to get news articles. And lastly, one student wanted the teacher to remind him when assignments were due.
During the third interview session for this question, 60 students answered. Out of the 60 students, 22 students felt that nothing needed to be done to help them. Seven students felt that the teacher was doing a good job, seven other students were unsure of what their teacher could do to help them. There were many answers that did not fit into any certain category. For instance, one student mentioned she wanted more study guides for all units, whereas another student stated, “I need to remember due dates, and make sure I have everything turned in, go through my folder.”
Q7: Do you enjoy having interviews once a week? Why? (*note-this question was only given during the third and final interview, and Miss Nielson told each student to be totally honest and that no offense would be taken.)
There were many different answers given for this specific question as well. Of the 60 students that answered this question, 39 students stated that yes they did like having interviews once a week. One male student stated: “Yes because it can help me make sure that I am keeping on track and speaking the truth.” There were quite a few students that liked having interviews because they enjoyed having a break from class work. Another student said they liked interviews by stating “ Ya I guess because I could tell you how you could help me with my grade.” Other students noted that they didn’t care either way, while a few other students felt that it was “awkward” or “weird.” THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 28
In regards to the research question, “Do students enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher?” Well over half of the interviewed students said yes they do enjoy having interviews with their teacher. There were 39 students out of 60 that enjoyed having personal interviews with their teacher, and the 35% that did not say yes were either indifferent, or seemed to think it was uncomfortable and strange for them to be interviewed by their teacher.
Pre Test:
All students involved in the research were given five pre-test questions to answer. Students had not yet learned the material for this unit; the pre-test was given strictly to see what students background knowledge was. Looking at the 66 students who did not have a one-on-one interview with Miss Nielson, out of three hundred and thirty questions, these students missed 259.5 of the questions. Thus, students in this non-interview group missed about 79% of the pre-test questions.
The scores for the sixty-two students who did have interviews with Miss Nielson were quite similar to the non-interviewed scores. A significant factor to remember is that Miss Nielson did not start interviewing students until after the pre-test was taken by all students. Nonetheless, the interviewed students had the same five questions as the non-interviewed group. There were 58 students who took the pre-test, equaling 296 they had to answer. Of these 296 questions, this interviewed group of students missed 223, or rather; they missed 77% of the questions-two percent less than the non-interviewed group.
Post-Test: THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 29
After the interviews were complete with the teacher, the post-test was given to all students involved in the research. The post-test had exactly the same questions as the pre-test. For the non-interviewed group, there were 68 students who took the post test. Among the 348 questions answered by all 68 of these students, 96 questions were missed altogether on the post-test. Altogether, the non-interviewed students missed 28% of their post-test questions, which is 51% better than their pre-test scores.
The interviewed portion had 63 students that participated in the post-test. There were 315 questions to answer altogether as a group, of these 315 questions, this group missed 80.5 questions; or rather, 26% of the questions were answered wrong on the post-test. This is 2% better than the non-interviewed group, and 51% better than this groups pre test scores.
In response to the research question, “Doe one-on-one teacher to student interviews impact test scores when look at pre and post test scores?” After reviewing the findings, it is clear that the interviews did not make a significant impact on pre and post test scores.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 30
The following pie charts focus strictly on questions missed by students. The pie charts compare males versus females on pre and post-tests, when analyzing which subject group missed more questions.
Pre-test charts for non-interviewed students:
Males who took the pre-test: 32
Females who took the pre-test: 36
Male students missed 120 questions of the 339 questions, which was 48% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 131 questions of the 339 questions, which was 52% of the questions missed.
Pre test questions missed by males, 48%
Pre test questions missed by females, 52%
Pre test questions
missed by males
Pre test questions
missed by femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 31
Pre-test charts for interviewed students:
Males who took the pre-test: 25
Females who took the pre-test: 33
Male students missed 108 of the 290 questions, which was 47% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 123.5 of the 290 questions, which was 53% of the questions missed.
Pre test questions missed by males, 47%
Pre test questions missed by females, 53%
Pre test questions
missed by males
Pre test questions
missed by femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 32
Post-test charts for non-interviewed students:
Males who took the post-test: 32
Females who took the post-test: 36
Male students missed 38 questions of the 348 questions, which was 40% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 58 questions of the 348 questions, which was 60% of the questions missed.
Post test question missed by males, 40%
Post test missed by females, 60%
Post test question
missed by males
Post test missed by
femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 33
Post-test for interviewed students:
Males who took the post-test: 28
Females who took the post-test: 35
Male students missed 37 of the 315 questions, which was 46% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 43.5 of the 315 questions, which was 54% of the questions missed.
Missing Assignments:
During the first week of student-teacher interviews, the amount of missing assignments for all students involved in the research was recorded. It is important to note that the first week of interviews the end of second quarter was ending for the students, during the second week of interviews it was the
Post test questions missed by males, 46%
Post test questions missed by females, 54%
Post test questions
missed by males
Post test questions
missed by femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 34
beginning of third quarter for students, and during the third week students had been in third quarter for approximately two weeks.
INTERVIEWED STDUENTS
The following interviewed group consisted of 63 students, the amount of late work these students had was recorded weekly over a course of three weeks.
During the first week, the interviewed portion of students had 107 missing assignments.
During the second week, the interviewed portion of students had 60 missing assignments.
During the third week, the interviewed portion of students had 92 missing assignments.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Interviewed: week
1 missing work
week 2 missing
work
week 3 missing
work
Series1THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 35
NON-INTERVIEWED STUDENTS
The following non-interviewed group consisted of 69 students, the amount of late work these students had was recorded weekly over a course of three weeks.
During the first week, the non-interviewed portion of students had 93 missing assignments.
During the second week, the non-interviewed portion of students had 58 missing assignments.
During the third week, the interviewed portion of students had 103 missing assignments.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
non interviewed
week 1 missing
work
Week 2 missing
work
Week 3 missing
work
Series1THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 36
Charts displaying missing assignments by gender
Week 1 Interviewed portion
*60 students were involved in this week’s research 26 males and 34 females (some students had no missing assignments).
Male students had 21 missing assignments.
Female students had 19 missing assignments
Missing work Males, 52%
Missing work Females, 48%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 37
Week 1 non-interviewed portion
*68 students were involved in this week’s research, 32 males and 36 females (some students had no missing assignments).
Male students had 20 missing assignments
Female students had 15 missing assignments
Missing work Male, 57%
Missing work Female, 43%
Missing work Male
Missing work FemaleTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 38
Week 2 interviewed portion
*63 students were involved in this week’s research, 28 males and 35 females (some students had no missing assignments).
Male students had 19 missing assignments
Female students had 17 missing assignments.
Missing work Male, 53%
Missing work Female, 47%
Missing work Male
Missing work FemaleTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 39
Week 2 non-interviewed portion
*68 student were involved in this week’s research, 32 males and 36 females (some students had no missing assignments)
Male students had 18 missing assignments
Female students had 13 missing assignments
Missing work Males, 58%
Missing work Females, 42%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 40
Week 3 interviewed portion
61students were involved in this week’s research, 27 males and 34 females (some student’s had no missing assignments)
Male students had 21 missing assignments
Female students had 21 missing assignments
Missing work Males, 50%
Missing work Females, 50%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 41
Week 3 non-interviewed portion
*68 student were involved in this week’s research, 32 males and 36 females (some students had no missing assignments)
Male students had 23 missing assignments
Female students had 16 missing assignments
In response to the research question, “Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews help to reduce students missing assignments? The findings within this research provides evidence that students that were interviewed by their teacher ended up decreasing their amount of missing work better than the non-interviewed portion. During the first two weeks the interviewed had a higher number of missing assignments, however, by the third week, interviewed students had jumped to have a decreased amount of missing assignments and the non-interviewed portion had eleven more missing assignments than the interviewed portion.
Missing work Males, 59%
Missing work Females, 41%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 42
Analysis
There were many aspects of this particular research that I feel have truly benefited me as an educator. One of the more obvious benefits was the fact that as I interviewed my group of students over a period of three different times, I was able to build a relationship with each student I interviewed. Not only was I able to reflect upon each student’s academic standings in my class, but, I was able to get to know their personalities more. It is not often that a teacher with upwards of 176 students, can get to know each individual student on a personal level, and I have been grateful to interact with each one of these students.
Interview questions
I found it to be very insightful to look at the variety of answers given to question number one that stated, “What have you learned this past week in my class.” As a teacher, it is important to see what stood out to students, and more so, if they are actually remembering and comprehending the information given to them in my class. It was also helpful to see students that may have not fully remembered what was taught in class so that I could make note to help them with the topic matter.
Perhaps one of the most important findings came as a result of the questions asked in the interview. The second interview question asked “What have you most enjoyed about class this past week?” As a middle school teacher, it is not a frequent event to hear feedback from students on what they enjoyed or even disliked in class. It was no surprise to find that this group of seventh grade students liked to do hands-on and interactive activities in class. A teacher can THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 43
look at these results and make the proper accommodations to listen to students’ feedback by trying to provide more hands-on activities in the classroom.
The third question of the interview allowed students to express how they felt they were doing in class. I found it very interesting to hear students’ feedback pertaining to this question. Some of my students who were doing well were very critical of themselves, while there were other students who were struggling who felt that they were doing just fine. I believe that reflecting upon this answer was important as their educator because I could turn this question into a lesson where I actually help students to understand when they should be feeling successful about their academics and when they should be concerned. Seventh grade students are still learning how to prioritize their academics and I feel this question helped them to critically think about where they were in history class.
Looking over the responses to the fourth question that asked students if they felt they were doing their highest quality work always, I was intrigued to find that over half of my students felt that they were doing quality work. Even some students whom I would have thought might have not been satisfied with their quality seemed to be quite confident that they were doing their best. I believe as their teacher it is important for me to teach them what quality work looks like, and what type of expectations students should make for themselves. This question pertaining to quality work is a question that I feel would be interesting to ask at the beginning of the school year, then again towards the end of the school year, to see if students changed responses over time. I believe this is a THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 44
question I could use in my future teaching career to look for progress and improvement.
The fifth question was excellent for me as their teacher to note where they feel they could improve. The exact question was “How do you think you could improve in my class?” In my class I only assign one homework assignment (not to be done in class but on their own time; it is their news day assignment and it is due every other week. There are many students who have a hard time remembering to get this assignment in even with all of the reminders I provide for them. It was hopeful to see that there were many students who recognized their homework assignment as their area to improve on in my class. I hope by asking this question to these students, it will give them time to reflect on the steps they can take to progress and improve their work ethic in my class as well as other classes.
By analyzing question six, which states, “What can I do to help you?” I felt that I could take note and be a proactive teacher by actually acting upon their responses. Some of the responses that really stood out to me that I believe I can make accommodations, was the fact that many students want more time to review in class. I have many reviewing techniques that I use in my classroom, but this question has motivated me to look at even more ways to review with students so that they feel completely comfortable and confident with their academic abilities in my class. Surprisingly, some of my top students were the ones mentioning they would like to review material more. As an educator, it is easy to assume that if students have good grades they understand the material. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 45
And yet, this research has reminded me that grades do not always have a correlation with student comprehension of topic matters. As the department head in my school, I hope to remind all of the social studies teachers that it is very important that they review and check for understanding with students on a frequent basis because many students are probably similar to mine, and feel that this could be beneficial and helpful in class.
The last question that was asked only on the third interview was: “Do you enjoy having interviews once a week and why?” I was very curious to see the outcome of this question. More so, I have to admit I was very surprised to find out that upwards of 65% of the students enjoyed having the one-on-one interviews. Of course, I was thrilled that so many students said that they did enjoy the interviews. However, I had to remember to take some points into consideration. For instance, even though I told each student to be honest because it wouldn’t offend me either way, I can’t help but think that some students may have said they like having the interviews to please me, or rather, were afraid to say they didn’t. I noted that there were many students that mentioned they liked the interviews because they could take a break from class for a minute. And even though I can’t argue with the students for wanting to get out of class, I was glad that not only were these interviews a break from class, but more so, they were a productive break from class. Altogether, I was happy to see that so many students enjoyed having these interviews. However, I wasn’t extremely surprised because all of my research and studying has told me, THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 46
whenever a teacher builds up trust with a student, it can result in a positive outcome.
Pre-test/Post-test
Looking at the pre and post-test scores, the data proved to show there was not a significance difference between the interviewed group and the non-interviewed group. For instance, the non-interviewed students missed 79% of their questions while the interviewed group missed 77% of their questions. Both groups showing that they had about the same amount of background knowledge on the topic they were tested on. However, when these groups took the post-test, after learning about all the material on the test, the non interviewed group only missed 28% of their questions altogether, while the interviewed group missed 26% of their questions. Ironically, both groups improved from their pre-test scores by 51%. Perhaps the interviews did not show a significant effect on these tests because the interviewed group did slightly better from the start, but as a teacher, it was great for me to see that type of improvement just within a period of three weeks! Obviously, I was able to see questions that were missed more frequently by students so that I could better teach that for students in the future. It also made me wonder, had the non-interviewed group been interviewed, would they have scored even higher? Another interesting factor to observe was the fact that the male students didn’t miss as many questions as the female students. This is something that I will take into account as a teacher to make sure all female students feel ready and prepared for upcoming tests. All in all, I believe that having these students take a pre and post-THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 47
test was beneficial to me as an educator so that I can better understand what it is I need to emphasize more in my teaching and lesson plans.
Missing Assignments:
Analyzing the data collected on missing assignments between the interviewed students and non-interviewed students was very intriguing. During the first two weeks of the study, the non-interviewed group had less missing assignments than the interviewed group. However, by the third week, the non-interviewed group had jumped up to having more missing assignments than the interviewed group. The third week of interviews students had been into third quarter well over two weeks with more assignments on their grades. I can not help but wonder, that perhaps if the interviews would have continued to last another three weeks, if the non-interviewed group would have continued to increase the amount of missing assignments, while the interviewed group would decrease in their amount of missing assignments. The interviewed group was asked two questions that may have affected the decreasing amount of missing assignments that occurred over the course of three weeks. The two questions asked that may have been a motivator for the interviewed group to turn in more assignments were “How do you feel you are doing overall in my class?” and “How do you think you can improve in my class?” I believe that the interviewed group began to feel more accountable for how they were doing in class and the weeks went on which I feel explains their decreased amount of missing assignments.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 48
Answer to Hypotheses’ Questions:
H1: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have less missing assignments because they are actively communicating with the teacher about their progress, which therefore can benefit students’ awareness of assignment completion in Miss Nielson’s history class.
Result: By the end of the third week of interviews, the interviewed group had less missing assignments than the non interviewed group. It is important to note that during the first few weeks the interviewed group had more missing assignments, by the third week of interviews the non-interviewed group had eleven more missing assignments than the interviewed group.
H2: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have better post-test scores because they were actively discussing with the teachers concepts they did not understand so that they could show mastery on a test.
Result: There was no significant difference in pre and post test scores between the non-interviewed group and the interviewed group. This particular research shows that one-on-one teacher-to-student interviews do not have a strong impact on students test scores
H3: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will express that they felt student-teacher interviews to be beneficial to them and their academic success in history class.
Result: 65% of interviewed students said that they enjoyed having one-on-one interviews with their teacher.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 49
Answer to Research Questions:
RQ1: Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews help to reduce students’ missing assignments?
Result: Yes. In the course of three weeks the interviewed portions missing assignments decreased more than the interviewed portion.
RQ 2:Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews impact test scores when looking at pre and post test scores?
Result: No there was no significant difference.
RQ3: Do students enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher?
Result: 65% of students did enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher.
Limitations
A possible limitation of the one-on-one research is the fact that the interviews were conducted within the time period of one month. Had the interview process gone on for several months, there would be more data to look at, thus, the conclusion of the results could be different. There is the possibility that the teacher-student interviews can be effective for a short amount of time because it is a change to the students. However, had the interviews been conducted over a period of six to eight months, the results could have been more concrete. Had there been a longer period of time to actually conduct the interview, the results may have been different in various ways. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 50
Another limitation within this research is the fact that students were absent and could not always be involved. There were 132 seventh grade students involved in this research; however, not all 132 were present the days of the interview. The teacher did not want to interfere with taking students out of class; thus, there was not an effective way to track down students that were absent on the day of interviews. Unfortunately, having some of the students absent can skew areas of the results.
The students that were not interviewed were affected because they did not have the opportunity to have that individual attention with their teacher. There were many students that wondered why they never got the chance to be interviewed, and many were somewhat frustrated that they did not have that one-on-one interview time with their history teacher. This issue is a drawback for many students involved in this study.
In addition to students being absent, another drawback in this research process is the fact that not all students in these particular seventh grade classes handed in permission slips to be involved in the study. Consequently, there may have been students within this seventh grade group that were left out of the study that could have changed some of the results of the research. Perhaps these students may have added diverse answers to the interviews, consequently making the outcome of the research different.
An added limitation in this study is the obvious fact that some students may have not been completely open and honest with their answers. Some students may have signed up to do the study because their parents may have encouraged them to, and may have not wanted to be completely sincere about the interview.
Further Research THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 51
One area where researchers could take this study further, would mainly be to add more time to this study. There was much data to collect over the course of three weeks, however, if a researcher conducted this study over the course of an entire school year, there would be even more findings that could be significant within this field of study.
Also, researchers could sort using more demographics. I mainly focused on categorizing gender, however researchers could also categorize by race, grade point average, and test scores.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the question may come up, would I consider doing this research again? Yes. Of course it was time consuming, and took a lot of extra planning, but in my opinion it was well worth the time involved. The pitfall of being a secondary education teacher is the fact that it is a trial to get to know upwards of 175 students. In fact, many teachers in this position feel that trying do build a relationship with this amount of students is next to impossible. I have been able to find out many facts about my students that I never would have known before, had I not taken the time to interview them. For example, I have one student who is unlike many students her age; she prefers to listen to lectures and work alone versus having group activities. By knowing that this student enjoys individual work, as her teacher I can make the proper accommodations to instruct her within her preferred learning strategies. I also had many students who said that they wanted to review the material more in class so that they could understand history better. Some of the students who wanted further reviews were my top students, and I never would have guessed they were struggling to comprehend everything. I am sure I never would have known that these students were struggling to comprehend all the material in THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 52
class had I not sat down with them individually to discuss this matter. There are endless accounts similar to these where I learned something new about each student. These experiences could help me as a teacher to understand what I can do to assist each student so that they feel more successful in history class.
A factor that was significant for me to find from this research, was that 65% of the students interviewed told me that they enjoyed having teacher-student interviews. That statistic alone tells me that these interviews were not time wasted; moreover, it was worth sitting down, talking and communicating with each individual student. Hopefully, these students walked away from these interviews hoping they could continue to have these personal one-on-one interviews with all of their teachers.
Much of the research on one-on-one communication explains that students will obtain a better sense of trust with their teacher if they have one-on-one interactions. I have always believed this to be true, but was even able to have a personal experience with this as I interviewed students. I had one student tell me that she had been hit by one of her parents. As she showed me the evidence, I consoled her, and reported her to the counselors, who then were able to get her the proper help she needed. I seriously doubt that this young twelve-year-old girl would have discussed such a personal matter with me had she not had these one-on-one interviews with me. As heartbroken as I was for her situation, I was glad that I was able to help her in this situation. It made it even more evident to me, that there are more benefits to teacher-student one-on-one communication than just academic benefits.
The RTI (response to intervention) program was my main motive to begin my one-on-one teacher-student interviews. I was intrigued with the idea of creating this one-THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 53
on-one intervention, and was curious to see if interviews were a possible answer to student success. I believe that they were. Perhaps the pre and post-test scores didn’t provide dramatic evidence that the interviews helped; however, the missing assignments portion of the study helped convince me that perhaps these interviews really did make a difference because the interviewed portion ended up having less missing assignments over a three week period of time. Missing work is a common issue for many of my seventh grade students and to see any sort of improvement in that area was extremely exciting for me as their teacher.
After reflecting back at this study, a program that trained teachers through professional development towards the specific topic of one-on-one teacher-student communication could be put into place. This type of program could be beneficial to educators to learn the best strategies and techniques to use when learning to communicate effectively with students.
There were so many accounts within the personal interviews that I found to be noteworthy that to name them all would be too lengthy. I have learned a lot from students’ feedback during these interviews, and I am grateful to be able to apply what I have learned to my teaching. As I continue on with my teaching career, my goal is to not stop with this study, but to persist with it every year. The common question many teachers ask “Is it possible to have one-on-one time with each student?” I believe the answer to this is “yes,” by simply taking out the time to do so. There is a great extent of research dedicated to effective communication strategies among teachers, and I believe that if educators want to continually strengthen the future generations, one of the key components will always be to create that one-on-one time with each student, so that every THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 54
individual student can have more academic success in classrooms everywhere. These interviews have proved to benefit me as well as my students in a number of ways, and I will continue to be an activist in teaching other educators the importance of teacher-student interviews.
References
Allington, R., & Cunningham, P. (2003). Classrooms that work. (3 ed., p. 193). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
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The author has granted Weber State University Archives a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce his or her theses, in whole or in part, in electronic or paper form and to make it available to the general public at no charge. The author retains all other rights.

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THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 1
The Impact Of Interviewing 7th Grade Students
Christy Lee Nielson
Master of Professional Communications
Weber State University
March 4, 2013
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 2
Introduction
“If only I had more one-on-one time to work with Johnny, I really feel like I could help him more effectively academically.” This type of discussion can often be heard traveling throughout the teacher faculty room. As classroom sizes get bigger through out the state of Utah, often teachers find themselves wondering, “Is it possible to have one-on-one time with each student?” After reading much research and learning about effective teaching strategies, I have found that many researchers and authors encourage one-on-one communication with students because they believe it will help them to be more successful in educating students. In the past five years, after teaching approximately 1,000 students, I too can’t help but wonder is one-on-one communication the keys to seeing students improve? If a teacher actually had time to sit down and talk with each student, and listen to questions and concerns students may have about class, would that actually prove to be the missing link that can get students on the right track to academic success? That is my question, and that is my venture. As an educator I hope to find the answer. Will personal interviews with students help students to decrease the amount of missing work in my class? Will these personal interviews bring test scores up? And will the students even enjoy having these personal interviews with the teacher?
In my mind, I believe that by conducting my interviewing research, I can find out where each one of my students fall as far as their skills and abilities, and I can help them by planning curriculum units in ways that can best fit their individual needs. Differentiated instruction has always been mentioned as a key aspect in pedagogy, but how are we to know which levels students are actually on if we don’t have the personal THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 3
interaction to interview each one of them and see where each student is as far as ability and comprehension? I believe that after much investigation, that teachers need to work hard at comprehending where students’ skill levels are so that lesson plans and teaching strategies can be created in a way to help each student gain the information they need to be successful in the classroom.
This research project evolved due to my introduction to the program called RTI, or Response To Intervention. Bender and Shores have popularized RTI. RTI is a program where teachers gather and discuss helpful interventions for students that are struggling academically (Bender & Shores, 2007). Each school can come up with different interventions that they feel will work effectively. As Kerins, Trotter, and Schoenbrodt mention, RTI provides a great opportunity for children who are at risk academically (2010).
At Fort Herriman Middle School, in Jordan School District, one of the interventions provided through the RTI intervention program is for a teacher to spend one-on-one time with students and help them with their academic struggles. I have seen for myself how this program is beneficial within our school, and I believe any time a teacher is able to mentor an individual, even through something like interviewing, it can be advantageous to each student academically. My hope is that I will see a difference after conducting these interviews so that I can help other educators realize the importance of one-on-one interviews with students.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 4
Literature Review
This literature review is divided into five sections on interview, listening, teacher-student communication, personal connection, and R.T.I.
Interview
M. Kathleen Heid, Glendon W. Blume, Rose Mary Zbiek and Barbara S. Edwards researched a study on math teachers interviewing students in order to understand students’ abilities and problems they are experiencing in math (1999). These authors mention that math teachers need to do more than find the solution to the issues students are having while learning math, but more so, they need to listen carefully to their struggles so that they can come up with a proper solution as to how to help these students. Furthermore, as these math teachers continued to interview individual students, they stopped teaching and answering all the questions, and they began to probe more so that many of the students opened up and explained their level of understanding in their math classes. These math teachers were amazed at what they were able to learn as far as their understanding of student skills and they found this study to be very beneficial.
Elisbaeth Vialpando De Groot at the University of Michigan conducted another study similar to the prior study (2002). Basically, De Groot was interested in exploring students’ and teachers’ perceptions of learning and schooling through interviewing. De Groot interviewed a student who mentioned that having a one-on-one interview with the teacher was an ideal way to understand concepts and ask questions. This student felt that the individual interviews created a chance for the teacher to dedicate more time to the student, than the entire class. De Groot was interested to see the impact of teachers conducting interviews with students. Some interviews were unstructured, others were structured, and some were more in depth. De Groot found that teachers are better able to understand how self-regulated each student is when conducting individual THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 5
interviews. Therefore, benefitting the classroom teacher because teachers can more clearly understand where each student is as far as academic motivation by using the proper interviewing questions. DeGroot’s emphasizes that one-on-one communication between teachers and students can prove to be a helpful strategy to use in a classroom atmosphere.
In their book on interviewing W.B. Cash and C.J. Stewart (2011), discuss not only different types of interview situations, but also how to structure an interview particularly for the audience that is being interviewed. Cash and Stewart also provide tips on how to make the interview process a trusting and comfortable atmosphere. Author Jerry E. Mandel (1971) also wrote about important interviewing tactics in “A strategy for selecting and phrasing question in an interview.” Mandel discussed how to figure out the main goals for the interview and then how to work towards obtaining those goals in the most efficient manner. The author also mentioned the importance of selecting the best possible questions to reach the goals set for the particular interview given.
Listening
In addition to interview, one has t be able to listen. Julian Weissglass writes “Listen first, then teach” (2012) and describes the importance of not assuming you understand how a student is thinking and how important it is to be the listener. Weisslgass states that it is not uncommon for teachers to assume that they know a student’s learning problems or struggles in the classroom, but she aks, how are they to know this if they don’t communicate properly with the student? Does this put more work on the teachers’ part? Of course. Is it important for the teacher to listen to each student’s concerns? Weissglass would reply with a resounding yes because she believes the more a THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 6
student communicates and actually opens up about what they aren’t understanding, the more successful they will be academically. Weisglass adds that there are many teachers who too quickly label students as having a disability before they actually have an individual discussion with that particular student to try to understand how they can help them with the context. Weissglass feels that students need to open up more about their learning concerns so that they can understand how to get on the right path to a successful education. First, the teachers must listen to what the student has to say, and be the type of teacher who is proactive about helping these students to feel as comfortable as possible when talking with them.
Along with helping students feel comfortable when they have a teacher-student discussion, Cris Tovani emphasized the importance of listening to students’ feedback (2012). Tovani explains that many educators fall into the trap of being the sole provider of feedback, and forget that the student is actually the essential person who should be providing feedback on how they are doing in class. Tovani gives the example from her career as a teacher: She had a particular student rarely coming to class so she thought it was only necessary to fail him. As soon as the student noticed he was failing Tovani’s class, this student came in to have a private discussion with Tovani in which the student explained that he needed help fixing his schedule because he had two classes at the same time, hence his inability to go to Tovani’s class. A simple fix, and yet the solution was what many educators forget the priceless impact of student feedback. Tovani promotes the idea to all educators to make sure that they are doing their part to listen to each individual students feedback pertaining to their class work. Tovani believes it’s amazing what a teachers listening skills can do to help with students success. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 7
Teacher-student communication
The topic of virtual schools creeps up when discussing the impact of teacher to student communication because recent studies mention that virtual school teachers feel a great deal of disconnect with their students (Barbour, Graham& Hawkins, 2012). Virtual schools tend to be on the rise in today’s society because students like the idea of getting online and completing assignments via the Internet. Since the beginning of virtual schools started in 1994, all but two states in the nation provide students with the option of participating in school and classes online. Barbour, Graham and Hawkins found that teachers feel a strong disconnect with their students because they never have a face-to-face conversation. Virtual school teachers can see the importance of having that personal connection with students, and many teachers feel that virtual schools are missing out on really understanding students because of the lack of interaction they have with students. Once again, even virtual school teachers can see that individual, face-to-face connections are vital and important to students’ success.
Authors Brandi Frisby and Matthew Martin wrote another article that emphasizes the importance of teacher-student communication (Frisby & Martin 2010). They emphasized how crucial instructor-student rapport was in the classroom in their study with a group of college students. They found that students who have good communication with their instructors are more likely to participate in class, which helps them to reach their academic goals by asking more questions about class topics. Frisby and Martin emphasize how important it is to teach up and coming educators tactics to create positive and effective communication skills with students so that there is a positive rapport, which can lead to students experiencing more academic success in the classroom. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 8
The idea of teachers trying to communicate more effectively with students is not a new idea, according to Ahmet Atay (2009). Atay discusses the impact the social media network of Facebook has had with his teacher-to-student relationships. As a college professor, he has many students who have requested him as a friend. After weighing the pros and cons, he realized that having a more personal online interaction with students could be a good thing if handled appropriately. Atay was able to create online friendships with students in a personalized way, and it helped him to communicate more with his students he taught. Atay found that online media could be an effective way to communicate on a personal, one-on-one level with students to build valuable teacher-student relationships.
Stacy Young, Dawn Kelsey, and Alexander Lancester studied the impact of teacher-to-student e-mail and how it helps students to foster their relationships with their teachers (2011). These researchers were able to find that when teachers e-mail frequently, and they e-mail personally to each individual student, students tend to feel more a part of the class because they believe that their teacher has a personal interest in them. Stacy Young conducted her own study on how interpersonal relationships can be better fostered through teacher-to-student e-mail (2011). Young would encourage all teachers to utilize e-mail as a tool to strengthen relationships between students and teachers.
Richard Slatta and Jennifer Blossfeld would also agree that creating an online friendship and relationship with students is crucial. In Slatta and Blossfeld’s article “Diversifying and improving student-instructor communication,” they describe the importance of having one-on-one time to spend with each student to help them succeed academically (2012). Slatta and Blossfeld extensive research shows a direct correlation of THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 9
closeness between teacher and students and enhanced learning motivation. They show that the connection between students and teachers isn’t just a “nice perk,” it actually has an academic impact on students. Furthermore, it can be crucial to having a successful classroom atmosphere. Slatta and Blossfeld would argue that if teachers are just simply teaching material, without trying to connect with students, there is a lack in academic success on the part of those students. They believe that a major part of teaching is to connect and encourage students.
Scott A. Meyers (2002) also studies and researched the impact of communication on teacher and students’ relationships. His study involved college students instead of adolescents, his goal was to find out if aggressive instructor communication with students is liked or disliked overall by students. After watching ninety-six undergraduate students, Meyers came to the conclusion that perceived instructor argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness has a direct correlation on perceived student state of motivation, cognitive learning, and affective learning. Instructors that are more argumentive and verbally aggressive tend to have a negative impact on student learning. Meyers learned which personality traits students prefer their instructor to have to help them to be more successful academically. He found that teachers that are less argumentive and verbally aggressive, and whom are more empathetic and polite to students tend to be more successful instructors according to the students. Meyers argued that the way educators communicate with students is important especially when it comes to students learning outcomes.
Instructional communication literature brings up many points about the importance of practicing affective communication in a teaching atmosphere. Nicole D. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 10
Dobransky and Ann B. Frymier studied how class communication is crucial for students to be even more successful in classes (2004). They found that when a teacher and a student talked to each other in a setting where one is not sociologically “above” another outside the classroom, the student reported greater learning. This interpersonal relationship that is developed when teachers and students communicate outside the classroom brings trust and greater learning abilities that would otherwise be compromised. Some educators may complain that this one-on-one relationship outside the classroom is too hard to achieve, yet Dobransky and Frymier would argue that it is worth the time and effort to see these students succeed in the classroom.
Also studying the impact teacher communication has on students, Alan K. Goodboy and San Bolkan (2009) learned how teacher misbehavior has a great effect on students. They considered teacher misbehaviors anywhere from being incompetent in the subject matter to offensiveness. Overall, Goodboy and Bolkan noticed that no matter what the misbehavior was, it had a direct negative effect on students’ learning outcomes. They found that teacher misbehavior seemed to create a certain amount of student resistance and discouraged classroom participation, as well as created an unsupportive classroom environment. Lastly, Goodboy and Bolkan noticed teacher misbehavior influenced students’ motivation in the classroom and students’ cognitive learning abilities. Goodboy and Bolkan feel their research portrays how important positive and healthy communication is within a classroom atmosphere.
In “Using teacher self-disclosure as an instructional tool,” Jacob Cayanus discussed that, when used appropriately, teacher self-disclosure can be a compelling tool in the classroom (2004). After conducting much research, Cayanus found that there are THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 11
many positive outcomes when teachers talk with students about who they are personally. Students tended to make a connection with teachers when the instructors opened up about themselves. Cayanus believe that there is also a sense of trust between the teacher and student, which helps to create a safer, and more intimate classroom atmosphere. He goes through the five effective ways to use the idea of self-disclosure in lesson plans. Cayanus considers this to be a very effective teaching tool because it has proved to increase student participation, interest, motivation, and understanding.
Annie T. Fisher wrote an article entitled “Creating an articulate classroom: examining pre-service teachers’ experiences of talk.” In this particular article, Fisher expresses the importance of teacher-to-student dialogue (2011). Meaning that teachers should not be the one constantly giving information and asking questions, but more so, it is important for students to feel comfortable enough to speak up and ask the teachers questions as well. Fisher noted that teaching is an emotional business, and when teachers are willing to listen to students, even if it’s on an emotional level, students are more likely to participate and get involved in their learning. It may not always be a comfortable role for teachers to move towards listening to students, but research has found that it is an important aspect to help teacher achieve success within the classroom atmosphere.
Communication in teaching also came up when Colleen Malachowski and Matthew Martin researched the relationships between instructors’ views of their own nonverbal immediacy, caring behaviors, and confirmation, as well their perceptions of their students’ nonverbal responsiveness (2011). Studies have found that students, who perceive their instructor as more nonverbally immediate, report greater affective learning, motivation, and willingness to obey instructors’ requests. Examples of nonverbal THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 12
immediacy would be moving around the classroom, smiling, decreasing physical barriers, and vocal pitch. Malachowski and Martin’s research found that students are more likely to be motivated by an instructor that exhibits these types of nonverbal behaviors.
Along with nonverbal behaviors, Houser and Frymier found that teacher’s nonverbal and verbal behavior, along with student characteristics, affect students learning empowerment (2009). To be an empowered learner means to be stimulated and motivated to carry out tasks, and to find these tasks to be meaningful. Research found that when teachers made the curriculum more applicable, students felt more empowered to learn and succeed in school. The teacher’s use of nonverbal and verbal immediacy and relevance were all positively connected to all dimensions of empowerment. After conducting further research, Houser and Frymier were able to find that students become empowered learners mainly as an outcome of their teachers’ communication traits and behaviors in class. Therefore, students’ class motivation to excel and learn is correlated with the communication behaviors of their instructor. Houser and Frymier would continue to argue that communicating with students is crucial and that it is important to find appropriate ways to communicate with each student as often as possible.
Diane M. Christophel writes “The relationships among teacher immediacy behaviors, student motivation, and learning (1990). In this journal article, Christophel investigates the research done on student motivation and how it is viewed as an important element that contributes greatly to student learning. Christophel found through much research that teacher immediacy has a direct impact on students learning outcomes in a positive way and highlights many of the main points that authors Houser and Frymier discuss. Teacher immediacy is the idea of teachers using non-verbal cues to let students THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 13
know that they are in a safe environment. Smiling, moving close to students when they talk, and keeping eye contact would all be example of immediacy in the classroom.
Mary L. Rucker and Joanna M. Davis-Showell examined teacher immediacy and interpersonal communication in the classroom (2000). Rucker and Davis-Showell argued that teacher interpersonal communication skills and teacher immediacy could have a positive affect on student retention. Faber and Mazlish wrote “How to talk so Kids Can Learn,” (2003). They also feel that there are certain key components to talking to students so that they trust adults and teachers enough to express their feelings towards them. This book emphasized that if teachers take time out to communicate with each student individually and really get to know each individual student, the likeliness of having students more satisfied in their classroom is more probable.
Scott Titsworth, Margaret Quinlan, and Joseph Mazer discuss the importance of emotional communication in the classroom (2010). They feel that communication and emotion are important to intertwine to create a positive learning environment. Their research in this area has shown that when teachers use emotion in their interpersonal communication with students, students are more apt to pay attention and understand the information.
David S. Fusani, studied educational communication in which he specifically studies student-teacher interaction outside of class and the positive impact it made on students, as well as teachers (1994). Fusani found that it is important for instructors to understand that the roles of communication extend further than the classroom. He argued that teachers should do their best to think of ways to broaden their communication skills in ways that can be more helpful to students. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 14
In speaking of broadening communication skills in the classroom, Qin Zhang investigates classroom communication apprehension inside Chinese classrooms (2005). Some of Zhang’s research findings included the fact that when teachers communicated with humor in the United States, students felt more comfortable in the classroom, and were more eager to listen and participate. Whereas in China, where the culture is different especially regarding humor, Chinese students didn’t feel as comfortable in the classroom when the instructor used humor. Zhang described many limitations he had in his study; however, he feels that it is important to continue to study how communication skills impact students so that instructors and teachers can continue to improve in this area.
Sarah Wilde, Kimberly Cuny and Alexandra Vizzier also studied the impact of empathetic listening not just in school but also in other work related areas (2006). They write that empathetic listening is a key component of any type of relationship whether it be teacher-student, or in other working environments. They believe all people can do better to become empathetic listeners to obtain even better relationships with all people.
Laura W. Black, researched teacher-student communication and students perceptions of their learning (2005). This study disclosed that dialogic elements of voice and presence were found to be important for learning according to students’ reactions. The study found that many students tend to have fear when it comes to opening up to teachers, even when teachers try to be open with them. Laura Black felt that students automatically believe that the teacher has more power, and therefore they are more apprehensive about being open with how they are doing in class. She feels that teachers need to break that openness barrier so that students feel comfortable with being open, which can help students be and feel more successful within the classroom. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 15
Churchill Roberts and Samuel Becker also conducted a study concerning communication skills and the correlation of student ratings of their teachers (1978). These two researchers were able to find that the teachers that received excellent evaluation scores from their students had very good teaching delivery skills and had direct contact with each student. Roberts and Becker highlight that students thrive when teachers work on their communication skills, and their ability to have that direct contact with each student.
In addition to discussing communication in the classroom, Girish Govindarajan wrote “Enhancing oral communication between teachers and students,” (2001). He argues that even though there are many ways that teaching has changed over time, one thing that will and should stay the same for teachers is the fact that teachers should be good listeners, and good at creating discussions. Govindarajan describes that for students to feel they can talk to the teacher and sense that the teacher is listening the teacher needs to make sure and create a sense of trust between the teacher and student. Some tips were explained to establish this type of trust to enable the teacher to get to know each student individually and learn their interests and hobbies. The teacher also needs to make clear that they are listening and understanding the student. Govindarajan even explained that it could be beneficial for teachers to videotape themselves and watch how they communicate with their students so they can see how they could improve. He revealed that many teachers unintentionally display a sense of superiority over their students, which in return makes it difficult for students to express themselves and communicate with them successfully. Govindarajan feels that it is important for teachers to communicate regularly with students to make them comfortable enough to open up with THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 16
their teachers. He also notes that after the teacher speaks with individual students, it’s important to summarize back what the student has said to prove to the student that the teacher is taking a personal interest in what they have to say.
Richard West has taken a particular interest in researching the importance of communication skills in the classroom (1994). West notes that through much of his research he has found that there has always been a link between student achievement and communication. West surveyed close to 200 students and made note of the positive and negative interpersonal experiences these students had with their teachers. He found that students that responded to having positive interpersonal communication with teachers considered these positive responses were very helpful to students when it came to their academic achievement. Students also explained that when the teacher gave students recognition for their comments they felt more successful in class. Overall, West found that the way that students interpreted what their teacher is saying can make a difference as far as how they do and feel about their academic success.
Reed and Spicer, were also interested in the study of communication in the educational realm (2003). Reed and Spicer focused on adolescent’s interactions with their teachers. Reed and Spicer found that often students’ academic performances were regularly demonstrated through their written and spoken communication behaviors. Reed and Spicer were able to find that these communication behaviors tend to be a factor in how much these students interacted with their teachers. As they continued on with their research, they found that the top three most important communicative behaviors that students scored as most important for their teachers to have were: narrative communication, logical communication, and clarification. Reed and Spicer felt that many THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 17
teachers could strive to focus more on these proper communicative behaviors to become more successful classroom teachers.
Reed, McLeod, and McAllister were also interested in communication skills in the education world, particularly among adolescents (1999). Reed, McLeod, and McAllister emphasized that when students learn how to communicate with adult teachers effectively, they are more likely to grow up and become an effective communicator as an adult. They were able to research what were the most important skills students found when interacting with their peers, as well as their adult teachers. The three skills ranked highest in this study were nonverbal comprehension, perspective talking, and interpretation of vocal tone. Reed, McLeod, and McAllister emphasized to all teachers to work on nonverbal comprehension, perspective talking, and interpretation of vocal tone to help students learn better and understand concepts more clearly.
Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon wrote a book “Learning to Teach Through Discussion (2009). Haroutunian-Gordon reflected on the importance of proper communication skills amongst educators. She felt that teachers needed to understand that having discussions with classes is something that teachers should work at and improve on so that students can learn more effectively. Allington and Cunningham also go into detail about having effective classrooms in their book “Classrooms That Work,”(2003). They explain the importance of having effective class discussions and the communication skills that should be used to get more students to participate and feel confident about getting involved in discussions.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 18
Personal Connection:
The book “Turning points 2000,” also explains the importance of having a personal connection with students in order for them to find academic success. Jackson and Davis wrote about different strategies teachers can use to improve instruction in the classroom (2000). Jackson and Davis are focused on improving pedagogy for the 21st century. They discussed that it is important for teachers to encourage students to reflect on what they are learning in class and to help them understand concepts that may be confusing. Jackson and Davis also explained that teachers needed to understand where each student’s skill levels are so that teachers can plan their class units according to different skill levels.
Similar to knowing the skill levels of the students, Randy and Tana Page discuss the importance of knowing each individual student’s needs in their book “Promoting health and emotional well-being in you classroom” (2007). In the first chapter of this book, Page and Page specifically noted that effective teachers need to not only know students interests and hobbies, teachers need to know and understand each individual students’ academic goals and abilities. By understanding each student’s skill levels and academic goals, Page and Page believe that teachers will have a more effective classroom atmosphere, and that discipline problems will decrease. Harry Wong is a well-known educator throughout the United States and in one of his books “The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher,” he also discussed the importance of letting students know teachers care about them (2005). Wong argued that not only will students’ behavior possibly improve, but also students may take more of an interest in the class. In the book “Teach like a champion,” Lemov discussed how important it is for teachers to have THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 19
frequent discussions with students and to get to know students on a personal level (2010).He felt that building trust among teachers and students was key, and that proper communication skills was the proper solution to make that happen.
RTI:
Bender and Shores have popularized RTI, which stands for response to intervention. RTI is a program where teachers get together and discuss helpful interventions for students that are struggling academically (2007). Kerins, Trotter, and Schoenbrodt believe that RTI has provided students with the opportunity to do better academically in school. (2010). These authors discussed the importance of teachers making the connections with these students so as to help these struggling students succeed. Some of the interventions consist of one-on-one teacher-students discussions, in which the teacher encourages the struggling student to set academic goals that will help them succeed. Another intervention explained was having a group of teachers set a meeting with the struggling student to help the student make the proper improvements to succeed in class. Kerins, Trotter, and Schoenbrodt felt that if teachers show personal interest with a struggling student, the student would most likely respond in a positive manner simply by knowing that their teachers want to help them individually to succeed.
Methods
My study is based on these overarching Hypotheses:
H1: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have less missing assignments because they are actively communicating with the teacher about their progress, which therefore can benefit students’ awareness of assignment completion in Miss Nielson’s history class. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 20
H2: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have better post-test scores because they were actively discussing with the teachers concepts they did not understand so that they could show mastery on a test.
H3: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will express that they felt student-teacher interviews to be beneficial to them and their academic success in history class.
From these hypotheses, I have developed the following three research questions:
RQ1: Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews help to reduce students’ missing assignments?
RQ 2:Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews impact test scores when looking at pre and post test scores?
RQ3: Do students enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher?
Description of Process
Students will have a list of six questions that I will ask each student in three of my six classes. For the last interview, I will ask seven questions. These classes were picked randomly for no specific reason without any biases involved in choosing these classes. I chose my odd number classes: 3rd period, 5th period, and 7th period, to conduct my interviews. I will interview students three times and tape-record their responses, transcribing them afterwards. Interviews should not be longer than five minutes, and I will conduct interviews only when students are working on individual assignments so that it will not cut into my teaching/lecturing time. Interviews will occur in my office area across the hall from her classroom. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 21
Students not being interviewed will continue to work on assignments in class while being monitored by a student teacher.
To keep confidentiality, students will be assigned a number with gathering data, so that their names will never be shown. There will be no pressure put on the students to say anything in particular to the teacher. I will be efficient in typing the answers the student has word for word so that it does not skew the research. I will conduct these interviews throughout the month of January 2013 into the month of February if needed.
I will have all of my seventh graders take a pre and post history test that will not in any way affect their grade. The pre-test will be taken before the interviews begin, and the post-test will be taken after the interviews are complete.
Students will be tape recorded to make sure that information is documented most accurately.
All students involved in the research signed a permission slip, and their parents did as well. I received IRB approval from both Jordan school district, and Weber State University.
Teacher-student interview questions for week 1 & 2:
1. What have you learned this past week in my class?
2. What have you enjoyed most about class this past week?
3. How quality would you rate your homework assignments, do you feel like you are turning in your most quality work?
4. How do you think you are doing in my class overall?
5. How do you think you can improve in my class? THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 22
6. What can I do to help you? (probe-as your teacher I want to do everything I can to help you be successful in class).
Teacher-student interview questions for week 3:
(Added question #6, #8 for the last interview)
1. What have you learned this past week in my class?
2. What have you enjoyed most about class this past week?
3. How do you think you are doing in my class overall?
4. How quality would you rate your homework assignments, do you feel like you are turning in your most quality work?
5. How do you think you can improve in my class?
6. Do you enjoy having interviews once a week? Why?
7. What can I do to help you? (probe-as your teacher I want to do everything I can to help you be successful in class).
8. I wanted to remind you that Utah became a state in 1896, this is an important date please try your hardest to remember this.
Findings
Q1: “What have you learned this past week in my class?”
Many of the students were able to properly remember the exact topic that was being discussed in their Utah Studies class. In particular, as the interviews progressed, students became more efficient at reflecting on what they had learned in class that week. For example, during the first interview session, 42 of 60 students interviewed mentioned they learned about the railroad and Utah’s struggle for statehood. These two topics were the main lessons discussed that week,;thus, many remembered very well what they were learning at that time. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 23
During the second week of interviews, 52 of 59 students called to memory the topics of statehood and women’s suffrage. During the third week of interviews, 53 of 60 students were able to correctly answer that they were learning about immigration that week. Thus, students were increasingly aware of what they were learning in history class. One student commented on what she had learned by stating, “I learned why some people wanted women to vote and why some didn’t want them to vote.”
Q2: “What have you most enjoyed about class this past week?”
This question had a variety of answers. One commonality seen in this answer throughout the three-week interview process was that many students enjoyed class activities and hands-on projects. Over a period of three interviews, 179 different answers were given. Answers tended to vary between students who have higher grades in class versus those with lower grades. For example, one student stated what she has most enjoyed about class recently: “I have really liked learning about what has happened and how these things have come to be, how women can vote and how different it would be for us. “ On the other hand, another student stated “That Mr. Fagan (student teacher) got to teach us because I like having new teachers teach.”
Q3: “How do you feel you are doing overall in my class?”
During the first of the three interviews, 47 of 60 students felt that they were either doing “pretty good,” “good,” or “okay” in class. During the second set of interviews, 53 of 59 students stated that they were doing “pretty good,” “good,” or “okay” in class. One thing to consider during this second week was the THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 24
beginning of third quarter so students had not yet received many graded assignments. For the third week of interviews, 44 out of 60 students interviewed remarked that they were doing “pretty good,” “good,” or “okay” in class. The six students who did not answer positively to this question made statements like “Considering my absences, I think I would be doing good,” and “I forgot to turn in the News Days assignment.”
One student in particular was able to articulate what she was feeling when she said, “I think I am doing pretty well, I have had a bit of trouble remembering news days.”
Q4: “How quality would you rate your homework assignments? Do you feel you are turning in your most quality work?”
Out of 60 students who answered these questions during the first interview session, 38 students felt confident they were doing well on high quality assignments, and that they were always turning in their highest quality work. During the second interview, 38 of 59 students mentioned that they felt confident they were doing well on the quality of their assignments, and that they were always turning in their most quality work. During the third and final week, 42 of 60 students felt confident they were handing in quality assignments, and that they were always turning in their most quality work. Altogether, there were 61 students who indicated that they did not feel they were doing their most quality work in class. One student stated the following about the quality of his work: “I used to do really poorly and wrote really small, and I have been trying to get nice sentences in.” Another student said, “I could do better on them,” THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 25
Q5: “How do you think you can improve in my class overall?”
There were a variety of answers given for this particular question. Out of the 60 students interviewed in the first session, 16 felt that they could improve by studying more, 15 felt that they could do better on homework, and eight felt that they could work on not talking in class as much. Other answers that were fewer in number was to study more, get organized, slow down their writing, work harder, and write more.
For the second session of interviews, eight students out of 59 felt that they could improve by talking less in class, while six students felt that they could work on homework more. There were four students who felt that they could study more, and five students believed they needed to listen better. Five students mentioned that they didn’t know what they could do to improve in class, and two students felt they could work on turning in more quality work. Another comment made during this interview that did not fit into any certain category was noted by one male student: “By asking you if I have any missing assignments and looking at skyward.” Another student said: “Maybe I could start raising my hand and asking questions.”
During the third round of interviews, 60 students answered this question, and once again, there were a wide variety of answers. There were nine students that thought they could work on listening better in class, and six felt they needed to work on their homework more efficiently. Three students felt they needed to work on the quality of their work, and three also felt they could talk less. Two students felt they should put more time into class, and two others felt they could try harder altogether. One student answered this question by simply stating, “I don’t know,” while another THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 26
student said, “I think I could try and do more detail on things like dolls and add a little more.”
Q6: What can I do to help you? (Probe-as your teacher I want to do everything I can to help you be successful in class.)
During the first session of interviews, there were some commonalities among the 60 answers for this particular question. For example, eleven students felt that the teacher was doing well with everything in class. Whereas, seventeen students didn’t know what the teacher could do to help them. Five students thought that more reviewing in class would be beneficial, and nine students said that nothing needed to be done to help them in class. Some of the more anomalous answers given were, “The only thing that would really help would be to move a student because he takes our stuff,” and “To check my Utah Studies grade if I am absent and miss something, tell me to finish it on time.” Another student mentioned that he doesn’t’ want to leave the classroom for testing, while another student stated, “Maybe try to shorten what you are trying to say.”
For the second session of interviews, 59 students responded. Eleven of these students didn’t know what the teacher could do to help them, while nine mentioned that the teacher should do more activities, and ten students said the teacher didn’t need to do anything to help them. There were eight students who thought the teacher was doing everything very well, and one student that wanted to see more group activities in class. There were also some comments made by students that were not necessarily categorized. For example, one student mentioned that she likes the reminder texts that teachers send out, but that she wishes her class was quieter THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 27
so she could learn better. Another student referred to the homework assignment in class and wanted the teacher to provide more ideas as to where to get news articles. And lastly, one student wanted the teacher to remind him when assignments were due.
During the third interview session for this question, 60 students answered. Out of the 60 students, 22 students felt that nothing needed to be done to help them. Seven students felt that the teacher was doing a good job, seven other students were unsure of what their teacher could do to help them. There were many answers that did not fit into any certain category. For instance, one student mentioned she wanted more study guides for all units, whereas another student stated, “I need to remember due dates, and make sure I have everything turned in, go through my folder.”
Q7: Do you enjoy having interviews once a week? Why? (*note-this question was only given during the third and final interview, and Miss Nielson told each student to be totally honest and that no offense would be taken.)
There were many different answers given for this specific question as well. Of the 60 students that answered this question, 39 students stated that yes they did like having interviews once a week. One male student stated: “Yes because it can help me make sure that I am keeping on track and speaking the truth.” There were quite a few students that liked having interviews because they enjoyed having a break from class work. Another student said they liked interviews by stating “ Ya I guess because I could tell you how you could help me with my grade.” Other students noted that they didn’t care either way, while a few other students felt that it was “awkward” or “weird.” THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 28
In regards to the research question, “Do students enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher?” Well over half of the interviewed students said yes they do enjoy having interviews with their teacher. There were 39 students out of 60 that enjoyed having personal interviews with their teacher, and the 35% that did not say yes were either indifferent, or seemed to think it was uncomfortable and strange for them to be interviewed by their teacher.
Pre Test:
All students involved in the research were given five pre-test questions to answer. Students had not yet learned the material for this unit; the pre-test was given strictly to see what students background knowledge was. Looking at the 66 students who did not have a one-on-one interview with Miss Nielson, out of three hundred and thirty questions, these students missed 259.5 of the questions. Thus, students in this non-interview group missed about 79% of the pre-test questions.
The scores for the sixty-two students who did have interviews with Miss Nielson were quite similar to the non-interviewed scores. A significant factor to remember is that Miss Nielson did not start interviewing students until after the pre-test was taken by all students. Nonetheless, the interviewed students had the same five questions as the non-interviewed group. There were 58 students who took the pre-test, equaling 296 they had to answer. Of these 296 questions, this interviewed group of students missed 223, or rather; they missed 77% of the questions-two percent less than the non-interviewed group.
Post-Test: THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 29
After the interviews were complete with the teacher, the post-test was given to all students involved in the research. The post-test had exactly the same questions as the pre-test. For the non-interviewed group, there were 68 students who took the post test. Among the 348 questions answered by all 68 of these students, 96 questions were missed altogether on the post-test. Altogether, the non-interviewed students missed 28% of their post-test questions, which is 51% better than their pre-test scores.
The interviewed portion had 63 students that participated in the post-test. There were 315 questions to answer altogether as a group, of these 315 questions, this group missed 80.5 questions; or rather, 26% of the questions were answered wrong on the post-test. This is 2% better than the non-interviewed group, and 51% better than this groups pre test scores.
In response to the research question, “Doe one-on-one teacher to student interviews impact test scores when look at pre and post test scores?” After reviewing the findings, it is clear that the interviews did not make a significant impact on pre and post test scores.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 30
The following pie charts focus strictly on questions missed by students. The pie charts compare males versus females on pre and post-tests, when analyzing which subject group missed more questions.
Pre-test charts for non-interviewed students:
Males who took the pre-test: 32
Females who took the pre-test: 36
Male students missed 120 questions of the 339 questions, which was 48% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 131 questions of the 339 questions, which was 52% of the questions missed.
Pre test questions missed by males, 48%
Pre test questions missed by females, 52%
Pre test questions
missed by males
Pre test questions
missed by femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 31
Pre-test charts for interviewed students:
Males who took the pre-test: 25
Females who took the pre-test: 33
Male students missed 108 of the 290 questions, which was 47% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 123.5 of the 290 questions, which was 53% of the questions missed.
Pre test questions missed by males, 47%
Pre test questions missed by females, 53%
Pre test questions
missed by males
Pre test questions
missed by femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 32
Post-test charts for non-interviewed students:
Males who took the post-test: 32
Females who took the post-test: 36
Male students missed 38 questions of the 348 questions, which was 40% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 58 questions of the 348 questions, which was 60% of the questions missed.
Post test question missed by males, 40%
Post test missed by females, 60%
Post test question
missed by males
Post test missed by
femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 33
Post-test for interviewed students:
Males who took the post-test: 28
Females who took the post-test: 35
Male students missed 37 of the 315 questions, which was 46% of the questions missed.
Female students missed 43.5 of the 315 questions, which was 54% of the questions missed.
Missing Assignments:
During the first week of student-teacher interviews, the amount of missing assignments for all students involved in the research was recorded. It is important to note that the first week of interviews the end of second quarter was ending for the students, during the second week of interviews it was the
Post test questions missed by males, 46%
Post test questions missed by females, 54%
Post test questions
missed by males
Post test questions
missed by femalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 34
beginning of third quarter for students, and during the third week students had been in third quarter for approximately two weeks.
INTERVIEWED STDUENTS
The following interviewed group consisted of 63 students, the amount of late work these students had was recorded weekly over a course of three weeks.
During the first week, the interviewed portion of students had 107 missing assignments.
During the second week, the interviewed portion of students had 60 missing assignments.
During the third week, the interviewed portion of students had 92 missing assignments.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Interviewed: week
1 missing work
week 2 missing
work
week 3 missing
work
Series1THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 35
NON-INTERVIEWED STUDENTS
The following non-interviewed group consisted of 69 students, the amount of late work these students had was recorded weekly over a course of three weeks.
During the first week, the non-interviewed portion of students had 93 missing assignments.
During the second week, the non-interviewed portion of students had 58 missing assignments.
During the third week, the interviewed portion of students had 103 missing assignments.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
non interviewed
week 1 missing
work
Week 2 missing
work
Week 3 missing
work
Series1THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 36
Charts displaying missing assignments by gender
Week 1 Interviewed portion
*60 students were involved in this week’s research 26 males and 34 females (some students had no missing assignments).
Male students had 21 missing assignments.
Female students had 19 missing assignments
Missing work Males, 52%
Missing work Females, 48%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 37
Week 1 non-interviewed portion
*68 students were involved in this week’s research, 32 males and 36 females (some students had no missing assignments).
Male students had 20 missing assignments
Female students had 15 missing assignments
Missing work Male, 57%
Missing work Female, 43%
Missing work Male
Missing work FemaleTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 38
Week 2 interviewed portion
*63 students were involved in this week’s research, 28 males and 35 females (some students had no missing assignments).
Male students had 19 missing assignments
Female students had 17 missing assignments.
Missing work Male, 53%
Missing work Female, 47%
Missing work Male
Missing work FemaleTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 39
Week 2 non-interviewed portion
*68 student were involved in this week’s research, 32 males and 36 females (some students had no missing assignments)
Male students had 18 missing assignments
Female students had 13 missing assignments
Missing work Males, 58%
Missing work Females, 42%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 40
Week 3 interviewed portion
61students were involved in this week’s research, 27 males and 34 females (some student’s had no missing assignments)
Male students had 21 missing assignments
Female students had 21 missing assignments
Missing work Males, 50%
Missing work Females, 50%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 41
Week 3 non-interviewed portion
*68 student were involved in this week’s research, 32 males and 36 females (some students had no missing assignments)
Male students had 23 missing assignments
Female students had 16 missing assignments
In response to the research question, “Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews help to reduce students missing assignments? The findings within this research provides evidence that students that were interviewed by their teacher ended up decreasing their amount of missing work better than the non-interviewed portion. During the first two weeks the interviewed had a higher number of missing assignments, however, by the third week, interviewed students had jumped to have a decreased amount of missing assignments and the non-interviewed portion had eleven more missing assignments than the interviewed portion.
Missing work Males, 59%
Missing work Females, 41%
Missing work Males
Missing work FemalesTHE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 42
Analysis
There were many aspects of this particular research that I feel have truly benefited me as an educator. One of the more obvious benefits was the fact that as I interviewed my group of students over a period of three different times, I was able to build a relationship with each student I interviewed. Not only was I able to reflect upon each student’s academic standings in my class, but, I was able to get to know their personalities more. It is not often that a teacher with upwards of 176 students, can get to know each individual student on a personal level, and I have been grateful to interact with each one of these students.
Interview questions
I found it to be very insightful to look at the variety of answers given to question number one that stated, “What have you learned this past week in my class.” As a teacher, it is important to see what stood out to students, and more so, if they are actually remembering and comprehending the information given to them in my class. It was also helpful to see students that may have not fully remembered what was taught in class so that I could make note to help them with the topic matter.
Perhaps one of the most important findings came as a result of the questions asked in the interview. The second interview question asked “What have you most enjoyed about class this past week?” As a middle school teacher, it is not a frequent event to hear feedback from students on what they enjoyed or even disliked in class. It was no surprise to find that this group of seventh grade students liked to do hands-on and interactive activities in class. A teacher can THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 43
look at these results and make the proper accommodations to listen to students’ feedback by trying to provide more hands-on activities in the classroom.
The third question of the interview allowed students to express how they felt they were doing in class. I found it very interesting to hear students’ feedback pertaining to this question. Some of my students who were doing well were very critical of themselves, while there were other students who were struggling who felt that they were doing just fine. I believe that reflecting upon this answer was important as their educator because I could turn this question into a lesson where I actually help students to understand when they should be feeling successful about their academics and when they should be concerned. Seventh grade students are still learning how to prioritize their academics and I feel this question helped them to critically think about where they were in history class.
Looking over the responses to the fourth question that asked students if they felt they were doing their highest quality work always, I was intrigued to find that over half of my students felt that they were doing quality work. Even some students whom I would have thought might have not been satisfied with their quality seemed to be quite confident that they were doing their best. I believe as their teacher it is important for me to teach them what quality work looks like, and what type of expectations students should make for themselves. This question pertaining to quality work is a question that I feel would be interesting to ask at the beginning of the school year, then again towards the end of the school year, to see if students changed responses over time. I believe this is a THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 44
question I could use in my future teaching career to look for progress and improvement.
The fifth question was excellent for me as their teacher to note where they feel they could improve. The exact question was “How do you think you could improve in my class?” In my class I only assign one homework assignment (not to be done in class but on their own time; it is their news day assignment and it is due every other week. There are many students who have a hard time remembering to get this assignment in even with all of the reminders I provide for them. It was hopeful to see that there were many students who recognized their homework assignment as their area to improve on in my class. I hope by asking this question to these students, it will give them time to reflect on the steps they can take to progress and improve their work ethic in my class as well as other classes.
By analyzing question six, which states, “What can I do to help you?” I felt that I could take note and be a proactive teacher by actually acting upon their responses. Some of the responses that really stood out to me that I believe I can make accommodations, was the fact that many students want more time to review in class. I have many reviewing techniques that I use in my classroom, but this question has motivated me to look at even more ways to review with students so that they feel completely comfortable and confident with their academic abilities in my class. Surprisingly, some of my top students were the ones mentioning they would like to review material more. As an educator, it is easy to assume that if students have good grades they understand the material. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 45
And yet, this research has reminded me that grades do not always have a correlation with student comprehension of topic matters. As the department head in my school, I hope to remind all of the social studies teachers that it is very important that they review and check for understanding with students on a frequent basis because many students are probably similar to mine, and feel that this could be beneficial and helpful in class.
The last question that was asked only on the third interview was: “Do you enjoy having interviews once a week and why?” I was very curious to see the outcome of this question. More so, I have to admit I was very surprised to find out that upwards of 65% of the students enjoyed having the one-on-one interviews. Of course, I was thrilled that so many students said that they did enjoy the interviews. However, I had to remember to take some points into consideration. For instance, even though I told each student to be honest because it wouldn’t offend me either way, I can’t help but think that some students may have said they like having the interviews to please me, or rather, were afraid to say they didn’t. I noted that there were many students that mentioned they liked the interviews because they could take a break from class for a minute. And even though I can’t argue with the students for wanting to get out of class, I was glad that not only were these interviews a break from class, but more so, they were a productive break from class. Altogether, I was happy to see that so many students enjoyed having these interviews. However, I wasn’t extremely surprised because all of my research and studying has told me, THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 46
whenever a teacher builds up trust with a student, it can result in a positive outcome.
Pre-test/Post-test
Looking at the pre and post-test scores, the data proved to show there was not a significance difference between the interviewed group and the non-interviewed group. For instance, the non-interviewed students missed 79% of their questions while the interviewed group missed 77% of their questions. Both groups showing that they had about the same amount of background knowledge on the topic they were tested on. However, when these groups took the post-test, after learning about all the material on the test, the non interviewed group only missed 28% of their questions altogether, while the interviewed group missed 26% of their questions. Ironically, both groups improved from their pre-test scores by 51%. Perhaps the interviews did not show a significant effect on these tests because the interviewed group did slightly better from the start, but as a teacher, it was great for me to see that type of improvement just within a period of three weeks! Obviously, I was able to see questions that were missed more frequently by students so that I could better teach that for students in the future. It also made me wonder, had the non-interviewed group been interviewed, would they have scored even higher? Another interesting factor to observe was the fact that the male students didn’t miss as many questions as the female students. This is something that I will take into account as a teacher to make sure all female students feel ready and prepared for upcoming tests. All in all, I believe that having these students take a pre and post-THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 47
test was beneficial to me as an educator so that I can better understand what it is I need to emphasize more in my teaching and lesson plans.
Missing Assignments:
Analyzing the data collected on missing assignments between the interviewed students and non-interviewed students was very intriguing. During the first two weeks of the study, the non-interviewed group had less missing assignments than the interviewed group. However, by the third week, the non-interviewed group had jumped up to having more missing assignments than the interviewed group. The third week of interviews students had been into third quarter well over two weeks with more assignments on their grades. I can not help but wonder, that perhaps if the interviews would have continued to last another three weeks, if the non-interviewed group would have continued to increase the amount of missing assignments, while the interviewed group would decrease in their amount of missing assignments. The interviewed group was asked two questions that may have affected the decreasing amount of missing assignments that occurred over the course of three weeks. The two questions asked that may have been a motivator for the interviewed group to turn in more assignments were “How do you feel you are doing overall in my class?” and “How do you think you can improve in my class?” I believe that the interviewed group began to feel more accountable for how they were doing in class and the weeks went on which I feel explains their decreased amount of missing assignments.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 48
Answer to Hypotheses’ Questions:
H1: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have less missing assignments because they are actively communicating with the teacher about their progress, which therefore can benefit students’ awareness of assignment completion in Miss Nielson’s history class.
Result: By the end of the third week of interviews, the interviewed group had less missing assignments than the non interviewed group. It is important to note that during the first few weeks the interviewed group had more missing assignments, by the third week of interviews the non-interviewed group had eleven more missing assignments than the interviewed group.
H2: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will have better post-test scores because they were actively discussing with the teachers concepts they did not understand so that they could show mastery on a test.
Result: There was no significant difference in pre and post test scores between the non-interviewed group and the interviewed group. This particular research shows that one-on-one teacher-to-student interviews do not have a strong impact on students test scores
H3: Students with the teacher-student individual interviews will express that they felt student-teacher interviews to be beneficial to them and their academic success in history class.
Result: 65% of interviewed students said that they enjoyed having one-on-one interviews with their teacher.
THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 49
Answer to Research Questions:
RQ1: Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews help to reduce students’ missing assignments?
Result: Yes. In the course of three weeks the interviewed portions missing assignments decreased more than the interviewed portion.
RQ 2:Does one-on-one teacher to student interviews impact test scores when looking at pre and post test scores?
Result: No there was no significant difference.
RQ3: Do students enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher?
Result: 65% of students did enjoy having one-on-one interviews with their teacher.
Limitations
A possible limitation of the one-on-one research is the fact that the interviews were conducted within the time period of one month. Had the interview process gone on for several months, there would be more data to look at, thus, the conclusion of the results could be different. There is the possibility that the teacher-student interviews can be effective for a short amount of time because it is a change to the students. However, had the interviews been conducted over a period of six to eight months, the results could have been more concrete. Had there been a longer period of time to actually conduct the interview, the results may have been different in various ways. THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 50
Another limitation within this research is the fact that students were absent and could not always be involved. There were 132 seventh grade students involved in this research; however, not all 132 were present the days of the interview. The teacher did not want to interfere with taking students out of class; thus, there was not an effective way to track down students that were absent on the day of interviews. Unfortunately, having some of the students absent can skew areas of the results.
The students that were not interviewed were affected because they did not have the opportunity to have that individual attention with their teacher. There were many students that wondered why they never got the chance to be interviewed, and many were somewhat frustrated that they did not have that one-on-one interview time with their history teacher. This issue is a drawback for many students involved in this study.
In addition to students being absent, another drawback in this research process is the fact that not all students in these particular seventh grade classes handed in permission slips to be involved in the study. Consequently, there may have been students within this seventh grade group that were left out of the study that could have changed some of the results of the research. Perhaps these students may have added diverse answers to the interviews, consequently making the outcome of the research different.
An added limitation in this study is the obvious fact that some students may have not been completely open and honest with their answers. Some students may have signed up to do the study because their parents may have encouraged them to, and may have not wanted to be completely sincere about the interview.
Further Research THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 51
One area where researchers could take this study further, would mainly be to add more time to this study. There was much data to collect over the course of three weeks, however, if a researcher conducted this study over the course of an entire school year, there would be even more findings that could be significant within this field of study.
Also, researchers could sort using more demographics. I mainly focused on categorizing gender, however researchers could also categorize by race, grade point average, and test scores.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the question may come up, would I consider doing this research again? Yes. Of course it was time consuming, and took a lot of extra planning, but in my opinion it was well worth the time involved. The pitfall of being a secondary education teacher is the fact that it is a trial to get to know upwards of 175 students. In fact, many teachers in this position feel that trying do build a relationship with this amount of students is next to impossible. I have been able to find out many facts about my students that I never would have known before, had I not taken the time to interview them. For example, I have one student who is unlike many students her age; she prefers to listen to lectures and work alone versus having group activities. By knowing that this student enjoys individual work, as her teacher I can make the proper accommodations to instruct her within her preferred learning strategies. I also had many students who said that they wanted to review the material more in class so that they could understand history better. Some of the students who wanted further reviews were my top students, and I never would have guessed they were struggling to comprehend everything. I am sure I never would have known that these students were struggling to comprehend all the material in THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 52
class had I not sat down with them individually to discuss this matter. There are endless accounts similar to these where I learned something new about each student. These experiences could help me as a teacher to understand what I can do to assist each student so that they feel more successful in history class.
A factor that was significant for me to find from this research, was that 65% of the students interviewed told me that they enjoyed having teacher-student interviews. That statistic alone tells me that these interviews were not time wasted; moreover, it was worth sitting down, talking and communicating with each individual student. Hopefully, these students walked away from these interviews hoping they could continue to have these personal one-on-one interviews with all of their teachers.
Much of the research on one-on-one communication explains that students will obtain a better sense of trust with their teacher if they have one-on-one interactions. I have always believed this to be true, but was even able to have a personal experience with this as I interviewed students. I had one student tell me that she had been hit by one of her parents. As she showed me the evidence, I consoled her, and reported her to the counselors, who then were able to get her the proper help she needed. I seriously doubt that this young twelve-year-old girl would have discussed such a personal matter with me had she not had these one-on-one interviews with me. As heartbroken as I was for her situation, I was glad that I was able to help her in this situation. It made it even more evident to me, that there are more benefits to teacher-student one-on-one communication than just academic benefits.
The RTI (response to intervention) program was my main motive to begin my one-on-one teacher-student interviews. I was intrigued with the idea of creating this one-THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 53
on-one intervention, and was curious to see if interviews were a possible answer to student success. I believe that they were. Perhaps the pre and post-test scores didn’t provide dramatic evidence that the interviews helped; however, the missing assignments portion of the study helped convince me that perhaps these interviews really did make a difference because the interviewed portion ended up having less missing assignments over a three week period of time. Missing work is a common issue for many of my seventh grade students and to see any sort of improvement in that area was extremely exciting for me as their teacher.
After reflecting back at this study, a program that trained teachers through professional development towards the specific topic of one-on-one teacher-student communication could be put into place. This type of program could be beneficial to educators to learn the best strategies and techniques to use when learning to communicate effectively with students.
There were so many accounts within the personal interviews that I found to be noteworthy that to name them all would be too lengthy. I have learned a lot from students’ feedback during these interviews, and I am grateful to be able to apply what I have learned to my teaching. As I continue on with my teaching career, my goal is to not stop with this study, but to persist with it every year. The common question many teachers ask “Is it possible to have one-on-one time with each student?” I believe the answer to this is “yes,” by simply taking out the time to do so. There is a great extent of research dedicated to effective communication strategies among teachers, and I believe that if educators want to continually strengthen the future generations, one of the key components will always be to create that one-on-one time with each student, so that every THE IMPACT OF INTERVIEWING 7TH GRADE STUDENTS 54
individual student can have more academic success in classrooms everywhere. These interviews have proved to benefit me as well as my students in a number of ways, and I will continue to be an activist in teaching other educators the importance of teacher-student interviews.
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